I
keep it in my pocket
safely under lock and key
My treasury
of likes and memes
in pixel and screen
I took it
two hundred times today
to go unseenĀ
to the song of the spheres
round me
escapingĀ
into portals of fantasy
felicity and fecundity
Touching it
I feel seen
Drinking its envy
to slake my thirsty
soulās yearning
for magic and majesty
ecstasy and intimacy
I fear who would
I be
without this daily
therapy
My humanity
marriedĀ
to this technology
Can I laugh, dance
dream or sing
without this dopamine
laced sensual screen?
Ah, but it is a tool you see
to aid my human calling
to make, cultivate
connect and create.
Tool or tyrant
friend or foe
it be?
I do not know
I do not know
But I keep it in my pocket
safely under lock and key
just forĀ
Me.
They say magicians ought not reveal their secrets. Well, Iām no magician, nor am I an experienced poet. This is a fairly simple poem, with obvious meaning, that emerged from my heart and over my lips yesterday morning. I delighted in the short lines and rhyming to mirror the ephemerality and rhythm of the devices that captivate our attention each day. I chose to begin and end the poem with the āIā and āMeā lines to emphasize the āselfieā nature of our devices. I repeated the lines āI do not knowā to underscore the internal conflict most of us feel about our phones: we know they mess with us, but we struggle with boundaries and good usage. And, for many readers, youāll hear illusions to āmy preciousāāthat ancient artifact that captured the hearts of men and hobbits so long ago.
Shalom to you,
Jonathan