As Long As It’s Something
. . . Anything!
Experience comes in 5 second intervals.
Swipe up to scroll down,
through to the next . . .
What’ll-it-be?
Exotic, panoramic,
expansive, expensive?
Silly, tricky, clever?
Eye bait to watch the tricks of—
an octopus, a cat, an owl?As long as it’s somthing.
Colored candy falling into place
— for god’s sake
let one of these icons
take you somewhere.
Something is happening here
Mr and Mrs Jones.
Energy has been sparked
— hunger has been stimulated
and it needs to be fed.
What else?
(swipe, scroll, click, repeat)
Cast out a line
— post a picture
onto that vast world wide ocean.A look-a’me bobber
bouncing on the surface
awaiting nibbles,
red bubbles coming up from below
notifications, engagements
— bites.
(Aquatic Algorithms always swim ahead
to guide you
to direct yearning
to keep the bubble from bursting
— to aid your decisions.
The main stream will of course try to lure
with the latest
And so as I looked into grammy’s aquarium
Pink Catfish Chanteuses
swam by with stilleto gills
— followed by a school
of Hiphop Herring
emitting rhyming-dictionary burps
with those notorious fin gestures.)
A television right in your hand
— not just for couch potatoes anymore.
Goes everywhere!
Interactive—
no more waiting
to respond to the advert invite
to rendezvous with Mr Clean
in the supermarket.
The universe at your fingertips
streaming towards you
down that raging river
— traveling to empty
down into the mouth, the landfill
— with so many stops along the way
delivering convenience
to your door.
From this depth it’s hard to see the surface.
Great babysitter for the fry.
It knows your interests better than your mama
— guiding you
like digging you, man!
— mining the gold reserves of your Time.
A pretend built-in lifesaver
helps you monitor your swimming schedule
— but in no way will it ever interfere
with your freedom
to drown.
It’ll be even smoother
(just go with the flow)
when the man behind the curtain
that industrial server farmer
Mr. A f’n I
takes over.
Gradual attention dehydration.
Drought at the reflecting pool.
“Meanwhile life goes on all around you.” — Bob Dylan
The wizards of selling
street-hawking tales of bad guys
— look, sharks over there!
Invoking anxiety —
keeping the waters astir.
Proclaiming required unity.
Directives from the plush suites
of the investor class —
Support Our Piranha swimming
over there to smite the enemy.
Proclaiming slogans
— creating narratives.
Them — vicious
Virtuous — us.
From the surface it’s hard to see the depths.
Now watch the destruction
over there —
right here, cradled in your hand!
Excited talking heads report
and you sigh—
“How horrible” . . .
explosions, fires, murders,
rows of wrapped dead
— pandemonium tornadoes.
As waves
of male Siamese fighting fish
generating whirlpools
of destruction
— wars!
The aquarium trembles
as luxury yachts speed by.
Where shall we live?
Where shall we go?
Consult the New York Times
Real Estate and Travel Sections.
The cautionary signs
have been up
for almost a century.
Do not feed the Man o’ War Racket.
And yet look at the shores
lined up with men
in suits and uniforms
tossing in bodies
— discoloring the water
with the blood
of those with the least to gain.
The telescopic microscope screen
in your hand
holds the horror
for a minute inescapable
— the sound of
truth crunching
in the meatgrinder.
Oh, I’m sorry —
Should there have been a disclaimer at the beginning of this?
Digressive graphic content ahead. Discretion advised?
Scrolling may harsh the mellow of some readers.
Time to detach.
Anything but.
— Click —
Funniest sports bloopers …
The secret they don’t want you to know …
Hollywood’s sexiest couples …
Shocking viral dashcam video …
New smartphone app you must have …
Facebook, Instagram, Xwitter, TikTok …
5 lastest food trends explored …
Super Bowl Weekend sales …
…
As long as it’s something . . .
Anything!
The ragman circles around the block, repeating—
It is not in the interest of any bottom line
to give you the time or space
— to question
what is worth caring about.
Click.
“Soon every surface in the maze became a screen. Animated, selling—yelling, promoting — attention seeking. Brands and influencers, sentimentality and ritual — limitless. Unfettered. Unsustainable.
And they continue to adjust, moving daily through the labyrinth, as long as their comfort is maintained through reassuring narratives. Pop music raining down on them from speakers in all shopping emporiums has been found to help in the unifying and pacifying process. Keep moving and self-medicating — click, scroll — buffers against reality’s mandates, the tragedies’ stench.
Not sure what I can do about it, but, as Susan Sontag said — ‘A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.’
— Zĕna Kōan
(author of “No Chaser”, “Shoegum Gumption”, and “Zombie Fame”)
art/text © AleXander Hirka 2024. All Rights Reserved.