October daily special, in case you couldn’t get enough of all the creative content craziness from Jennifer Weigel we’re posting one a day for the whole of the month!
We were together alone.
Texting across the dinner table,
Measuring ourselves in likes and shares…
Absently following each joy and despair
Like a sound bite we could come and go from
At will, freely, without giving into it fully.
Reminded of birthdays we knew little of otherwise
And never intended to actually celebrate
Beyond a virtual high five and a sticker on their wall.
When we didn’t like the messaging
We would just change the channel.
Or at least we’d try to change the channel…
But even after we left the conversation
We were still awash in emotion and taken aback
Arguing about politics and semantics.
Up odd hours into the night typing away treatises
When we didn’t get the responses we wanted
Or when we felt justified in pointing out
The wrongness in another’s interpretation.
We were always fiercely independent
While being tethered to our devices.
COVID came and furthered our distancing
Making physical contact unattainable
And we withdrew even further into our devices.
Who do we listen to? What news do we believe?
What is the conspiracy of the day?
How do we navigate this new uncharted unknown?
We were always seeking solidarity and support.
We still divide ourselves based on where we find it,
Still measuring ourselves in likes and shares,
Still texting across the dinner table…
Now we are alone together.
(Image features still from poetry reading video, available on Jennifer Weigel’s You Tube here https://youtu.be/uyo3eckc0xQ?si=z0ERvWFvIn9jDN46)
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