𝑫𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏
𝑲𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆
𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒂𝒍
𝑾𝒉𝒐’𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝑰’𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆
𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅
𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅
𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝑰’𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉
𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏
𝑻𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔

𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆
𝑴𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅
𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰’𝒎 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆
𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕
𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈
𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒕

Alex 2 breathes, stacks and unstacks papers, distantly
Alex 1, front cubicle, coughs, clicks his mouse
Eddie pulls out his drawer, pushes it back in, clicks his mouse
Alex 2, yes two Alex's, saunters up to the coffee machine
Alex 1, head down, clacking his keyboard
Mouse clicks, keyboard clicks, electricity
Monitors glow, fluorescents never flicker
Alex 1 opens a new file, two clicks of the mouse
Eddie sips his coffee, puts it down, clicks
New folder, new file, new data
Data entry, spreadsheets
Alex 1 asks did you get the email
Alex 2 has his coffee, his white shirt, under the fluorescents
Statics noise, static, mouse clicks, keyboard
Every new click, new file, new data, new folder
Data in, data out, file, click, the static electronics
Alex 2 clicks, files, new folder, new deal, new data
Eddie clears his throat, softly, the static noise, flickers,
Every new love story is a tragedy
Alex 2 opens a new folder, inputs data, spreadsheets
Numbers in, Eddie clicks his mouse twice rapidly
Stale effluvia coffee, static noise, electric light
Alex 1 sniffles, clears his throat, the clock ticks softly
Eddie opens a new file, the electric screen reflects his fixed eyes
Alex 2 sips his coffee, opens a file, clicks, keyboard clacks
Stasis, complete stasis, electricity, nodes, linear graphs
Numbers input, data, new file, file transfer
Every old tragedy is a ghost story
Alex 2 sips his coffee, breathes, clears his throat, data
Spreadsheets, monitors, electricity, static, data input, output
Every ghost story is infinite
Alex 1 gets up for a new coffee
Eddie inputs data, spreadsheet, file, new folder
Electric lights, stasis, data, file, click, file, input exp..

Will there be a time when
All this technology ends

When the screens go down
We all mute the sound

Will we return to a time
Not forged in financial design

When the ROI and the GDP
Big money banks we no longer see

Or the interest rates and credit lines
Hidden fees and holdback fines

And tell them, when I turn my shoulders to the night,
I sent you to discuss the market's yield's human right

heated skin of July
warm, soft, fuzzy, tender
fondled by sun rays
reminds me
the touch a guy
once gave me in splendor
it ignited me in blaze

As he watched her walk past,
I asked,
"Did you used to date?"
He shook his head,
And said,
"No we never dated,
But I have clothes still at her house.
And her mattress remembers the shape of my body.
No we never dated,
But her old toothbrush rests in the second drawer.
And my mother misses her when she goes to their favorite store.
She refuses to look at me when I'm out with you.
And when you are gone, I know she will come.
But no,
We never dated."

In Cyberland, Microsoft is King
And we all pray to Google.
There is an Apple Resistance,
And Yahoo keeps on yelling,
But Microsoft is King.

Where did Jeeves go?
Remember him, you oldies?
A smiling Hitchcock fatty
You could ask things.

Remember Bebo and MySpace too.
But now we Snapchat through the day
And ask folk WhatsApp.
All in an Instagram.
(My Custom Dictionary
Is filling with new words).

So now it’s time for Tik Tok.
(See what I did there?)
That’s if the Americans allow it!
And much more no doubt.
Instagram Gratification
Flashing images
And clips.
No time for tedious talking
On landline phones
Or, heaven forbid,
Face to face conversation.

Writing – or rather typing – too is clipped
With lols & rofls & tbfs.
Lazy language
Tweets in textese
Fast and fleeting.
Facebook Funnies
With bouncy banter.

As a loyal subject of Cyberland
I do confess
To many an hour
Sifting through Facebook Memories
Even improving old posts
With coloured backgrounds
And sharper edits.
Addictive Internet indeed.

Yet
In years to come
Will we laugh loudly
At the mention of Google
And all the names I’ve said
Like we snigger at Bebo, MySpace
And Nokia Mobiles now?

The tsunami of technological change
Sweeps over our heads
Smashing the past:
Leading us
To who knows where.
For better or worse
Who can say?
Wherever we are going,
We are well on the way.

Paul Butters

© PB 17\9\2020.