Love In The Future

also available here I know the beep before I open my eyes,Press stop, swipe right. Get out of bed.Check my mail while brushing my teeth.Hasty clicks because there’s not that much time,But mood music makes my shower worth my while.Press and hold the white circle, I can’t help it:‘What’s the point of my day if I don’t get to share it?’ 

On one of these days, I groggily stumbled into a cute cafe;

It was a long day and I was dying to have a coffee.

Minutes later I got seated facing my macchiato,

it grew cold, unsipped as I posted filtered picture after picture.

I’d forgotten how badly I wanted a coffee.

At the dinner table, our five-inch screens sanctify our meals,Our parents don’t tell us to ‘put that thing away’,No, no, now, it’s more ‘have you read my wozup message?’Or sometimes ‘How come you’re not on facebook?’I want to laugh and say I’ve blocked her,But she still believes she can’t find me ‘‘cause there’s no Wi-fi’. 

‘Okay I’m going to bed for real for real’ this time

I tell myself. Put that device away and give my mind rest.

My ears vibrate with every zing,

Who knew the sleeplessness it could bring.

Because being ‘screen deep’ has that effect.

 Panic crept in my guts on one fateful day,I tried to reach for my phone from where I’d put it away.My hands kept reaching for nothing.I already felt like a part of me was missing,And that could only mean one thing.  

I’ve always loved being alone, still do,

But I recently realized that this is untrue.

I curl up with the book I’d planned to read,

And take a picture just for my feed.

‘Am I truly alone?’ I wonder as I re-focus on the book,

But only just to make up for the photos I took.

 It’s so easy to love these days,Where bitmojis are more intimate than the users,So Easy to share pictures—not memories.Thinking I’m having a good time,When all I have are good pictures in a timeline.  

It’s so easy to hate these days,

When emojis speak louder than words.

I scroll through timelines and want to swap lives,

Not knowing what’s on the other side of the picture,

Whether or not they’re lies.

  So why is it so hard to love these days?Everything’s been made easy.It’s so hard to say the truth to another’s face,So easy to double tap just to save face,When you know you couldn’t care less about the picture.Why is it that we believe what we shouldn’t see,And don’t believe what we should be seeing more of?  And it shouldn’t be that way,Because the future should help us connect,But it is that way,Because being ‘screen deep’ has that effect.