"metadata" poems
Social media companies
Swear it's you they want to please
They badly want for you to see
That they value privacy
And that there are several strictures
On who can see your posts and pictures.
You think your profile is secure
You're satisfied until you hear
That they sell your information
To advertising corporations.
Every post that you've spent time on
pictures, videos you had your eye on
They save it all for using later
And say "It's ONLY metadata!"
They as good as have a list
Of content that you can't resist
And knowing full well what you like
With custom ads they duly strike!
They desperately want you to keep scrolling
So they can see the money roll in.
And their ethics will be forfeited
So advertisers can be profited.
Nov 17, 2017
Nov 17, 2017 at 5:59 AM UTC
Its lost in transient ideals
The vivid colours in changing scopes
- and the doors are all open
Its broken but fixable
Your system I mean
- Its corrosive
(Two men on a brick wall, blowing halted tunes through old whistles)
And the country is talking aloud
You can't complain that nobody listens
Wailing sirens in the dusk sky, saddened, non satiata
Will you trust these sounds at such volumes
It's deafening, the city when it cries
When she cries, when the city dies
When the government lies
When the government lies
- because they do lie
All of them
Jun 13, 2013
Jun 13, 2013 at 5:17 PM UTC
Is she an ancient chaos serpent of death?
Is she the prototype of the witch?
Is she just a myth or,
Has she been created?
Total
Information
Awareness
Metadata
Analysis
Tools
Would you
call my band,
"evil,"
-if I named it Satan?
Might you expect your government
to name a division of itself after Lucifer?
Can this be a,
"Christian Nation,"
...when it runs a Devil's game?
Dec 23, 2016
Dec 23, 2016 at 8:32 PM UTC
It’s never easy
starting midstream,
when your joints squeak like old vinyl.
Worse to end just as you begin,
editing hope into bullet points,
buffing your portfolio like a coffin lid.
You kneel to metadata while the holy algorithm decides
if you're human enough to be blessed.
Better to read old Nabokov,
nap in your robe
(the good one with pockets),
wait for the mail like it’s 1998
when catalogs still mattered.
Let purpose dissolve, like the vitamin
you dropped in the sink.
You failed to fail,
which sounds noble
but feels more like
accidentally surviving.
So drift toward the grocery by the newsstand,
nod to the pretty barista with the knife-edge bangs,
pretend the papayas mean something.
You’re the median of middle-aged.
Your knees, both traitors.
Your dreams, reruns.
These lines limp
like your fifth attempt
to rebrand the layoff as a sabbatical.
"Don’t derail, just project
your better self on a screen."
Crop the hair, dim the lighting,
hide the existential dread
behind a well-placed emoji.
Let rhyme stutter
like a pull-string toy,
half-broken,
slightly too cheerful.
Feet unsure, eyes fogged
(by pollen, by memory, by news).
There’s no noir here,
no brooding detective,
no dame worth lighting a cigarette for.
Just this:
the echo of effort,
forms half-filled,
where even your name looks uncertain.
So let’s call it.
Let’s bury the draft,
archive the ambition,
delete the app.
End
where we never really
began.
Jul 28, 2025
Jul 28, 2025 at 10:03 PM UTC
The Pill
Called up big Pharma,
Sad and depressed,
I told them straight out:
Dudes, I need a new karma.
*NO problem they cheerfully replied,
(later I wondered, which pill they were on)
We custom make, haute couture, drug-design,
Mood enhancers, in little canisters,
You need only supply the cash and the system vascular!
Your soul's desire?
To be a better wilder, rambler,
Or a life calmer, better anchored?*
I know what I want, exactly,
A pill that removes
Specific words
From the frontal lobe temple
Verbal storage center.
*NO problem! (so cheery it was kinda scary)
Which words would you like to have
Exorcised, annihilated, irradiated, confiscated?*
I list from below, from side to side,
Let not one be denied,
Bury them all in nether-lands,
Swamp them under mountains of
Granite and sand,
Banish them from my lexicon.
How much do you charge?
But one dollar per word.
The list I emailed complete,
Herein I reprint.
Scars Pain Wound Strain Torture Anguish
Disfigure Damage Mar Mutilate Maim Blemish Deface Damage Ruin Distress
Afflict Trouble Wound Torment Agonize Sad Suffer Sting Throb
Torture Torment Despair Suffer Distress Hurt Vex Trouble
Ache Hurt Misery Woe Bitterness Misery Agony Bitter
Heartache Afflict Hurt Cut Loathing Shatter Broken
Alone Bleed Struggle Self-destruct Monster
Nightmare Cornered Darkness Horror
Loner Confused Goodbye Suicide
Slash Cut Desolate Submerge
Dissipate Dead Stinking
Enough.
Awaiting my concoction sweet,
When an answer they begat,
A response forthcoming, indeed was snubbing!
**Dear Sir/Madam,
We regret to inform you that we are unable to manufacture
Said item. Removal of these words would be a violation of
Federal Poetry Laws.
Sadly yours,
Big Pharma
P.S. Are you the author of "Yo! Yo! Warning: the government is reading your poetry! (Metadata Mining This Site) on HP?"**
P.P.S. Please do not contact us anymore.
Jul 16, 2013
Jul 16, 2013 at 1:53 PM UTC
Social media companies
Swear it's you they want to please
They badly want for you to see
That they value privacy
And that there are several strictures
On who can see your posts and pictures.
You think your profile is secure
You're satisfied until you hear
That they sell your information
To advertising corporations.
Every post that you've spent time on
pictures, videos you had your eye on
They save it all for using later
And say "It's ONLY metadata!"
They as good as have a list
Of content that you can't resist
And knowing full well what you like
With custom ads they duly strike!
They desperately want you to keep scrolling
So they can see the money roll in.
And their ethics will be forfeited
So advertisers can be profited.
Dec 14, 2018
Dec 14, 2018 at 7:58 AM UTC
i. 403 Forbidden
lost_in _this_digital_scream.mp3
it’s over
shutdown.
restart.
pick up the pieces.
you know who this is
you know where this is
fresh eyes to see the world
strings of code
binary - 1 or 0
y/n
n.
back into the
cave we go
ii. 401 Unauthorised
you split yourself open.
rewiring
it is time to make a change
your code writ in red and
love and trauma
plug you in
(plug into me)
corrupted files
delete, delete
a cut job (ctrl x)
you do not have access.
iii. 404 Not Found
who are you
where are you
what colour is the sky
what colour is the sea
why can you feel the pull of the moon
does the earth call to you
why
why does she have rainbow eyes
ah.
there you are
(were)
empty automata
take to change.
flee from me.
find safety.
firewall.
sleep,
electric sheep dreams.
defragmentation
debugging
recalibration
everything not saved will be lost
iv. 410 Gone
you wake.
(FALSE)
the world is new
to you again
or you are
new to it.
i won’t find you in this place
because you’re gone
(again)
new version
ctrlaltdel.
empty.
a reconfiguration
ship of theseus
whole again
without them
coda. Metadata
you run out into the dark
the burdened and choked night sky
you see nothing
you see everything
this world is yours to reshape
and you to be reshaped with it
cause and effect
no more binary. no more
i am waiting for you.
Sep 30, 2020
Sep 30, 2020 at 12:54 PM UTC
forget perfect
my friends
as we manifest
our aspirations
it's about the journey
not the score card
i don't understand
slavish worship
of big data
like it was
a big mama
of truth? streuth!
more data won't
help discernment
this is not science
and way less than perfect
yet slavishly we
attend our screens
providing metadata more
hash tag what for?
Jul 2, 2017
Jul 2, 2017 at 4:09 AM UTC
Three layers of metadata deeper…
servile gates ask,
"Pretty-print this minified file?"
option PRETTY-print
or Don't show again… learn more
ever these occur
pop up possible means beneath the image,
that was
my goal. The kids in holocaust garb
memeing me to not forget,
but those kids
look fatter
than the kids in Eli Wiesel's Night Scenes
from the Bible,
so I was seeking the source
blurr ie smear
QR code crossover, are we in the machine?
id est
AI suggests we are of one mind,
some time
think if we
sing the syllables, roll the r's
roll all r's
- an exercise in being otherwise minded
"
Diwanit bugale
May you blossom, children
Didostait bugale Come near, children
Ar serr-noz hag ar gouloù deiz Dusk and dawn
Roit kalon din-me Give me courage
Aon 'm eus rak hon dazont
The future frightens me"
From <https://hellopoetry.com/poem/4441176/curious-fawn-makes-me-think-kalonou/>
Sep 23, 2021
Sep 23, 2021 at 3:03 PM UTC
Seems there’s nothing there
Is it see-through
Is it like dark matter and dark energy
The forces of invisible entities that bind us
They invade our thoughts covertly
And we never know our feelings’ feelings
For theirs is a different world
Beyond our own
Forces bind energy and matter
To interact with the senses;
And through this process
The ghosts of thoughts take mold
Secondary level of production
Involves post-processing and
The rise of libraries of metadata
And if we are cautious
We could gain access to new layers
New horizons within the body of our thoughts
Lingering dormant
Waiting to be discovered
It's all there
Catalyzing inspiration
Seemingly out of thin air
Feb 13, 2018
Feb 13, 2018 at 4:24 AM UTC