(Those Held Dear- my digital music composition)
(Robot Food- my digital music composition)
Changing Canadian Society
As a child
my world was coloured
by a neighbourly ‘our’.
We left our doors unlocked.
We stood at the fence
and spoke full sentences.
We laughed and joked
with local slang.
I learned to savour
language…
and slowly sip
the beauty of words.
As a youth
my world was colored
by a consuming, wasteful
‘me’ and ‘my’.
We lost our ‘u’
and became
dancing skeletons.
We locked our doors.
Neighbors became
a fast, polite ‘hi’
There were a lot of ‘highs’
in those days.
There were a lot of ‘lows’
in those days too.
We lost trust
in all authority.
We mouthed the words
‘Love’ and ‘Peace’
but grew
suspicious.
As an adult
my world is computer-colored
and abbreviated
in the digital instant.
Here I’m just
another ‘u’
ignoring the sunsets
for endless sites
in cyberspace.
My life is
screened.
My city door
is double-locked.
Neighbors rarely greet
or respond.
Their words
sound hollow
and remote.
In the halls, in the streets,
and at work,
all the cameras,
cards, and computers
record our lives…
How long will they
remember us?
I ponder, amused.
The patient ‘u’ is gone.
Frustrated fingers
begin to tap
for five second receipts.
Full sentences
get tuned out
and go unheard.
There is a frenzy
of finger-clicking
and fast-flapping tongues
everywhere now.
Poetry has become
a dozen words
scrambled
and served
to any meaning.
How will the Robots
digest this?
I silently wonder.
January 7, 2011
Shelley Wilson
May your Spirit shine brightly,Shelley
Flowerpoet 