'I'm worried about the future' I say,
racing a single car around a Scalextric track.
Twitter trends with 'Man worries about the future.'
'What a loser' some kid replies,
I spend the rest of the evening correcting the typos on his website.
'Maybe there are too many television channels' I think,
tuning in to a channel devoted to people discussing
whether there are too many television channels.
'I just liked it better in the old days' I tell the studio audience
when I am finally invited on the show.
A small section at the back applaud.
'These are my people!' I think, waving.
People who can't get to sleep at night
so read pages from Ceefax
as hot chocolate warms on the hob.
The next morning when I can’t find my house keys
I know that they can’t too. We all retrace our footsteps
pat down every pocket.
'They have literally disappeared.'
'There are too many blogs' I write on my blog
and immediately it disappears
like when a little girl says 'I don't believe in fairies,'
and at the bottom of the garden a family of fairies grieve their mother,
taken so young.
'We are all on life support machines' I tell the studio audience,
stomping on a Macbook,
‘surely it’s all gone too far now’
'We are all being drip fed by these tubes
having God knows what pumped into our veins.’
I unplug all the USB cables I had plugged in
in preparation for the analogy.
'Let's all quit Facebook' I type as my status update
and we count down together
‘10, 9, 8 ...’
and after ‘3, 2, 1’ it's like when you've been in a traffic jam for so long
you say ‘right’ and take off your seatbelt
switch off the engine
lie down on the fast lane of the motorway
stretch out your legs.
Comments
maggyvaneijk | November 24, 2010 - 08:58
A great piece, I think at times you could do with less words to really bring out the power of the poem. For example: When I quit Facebook it was like when you've been in a traffic jam.
There are so many great images, especially: "tuning in to a channel devoted to 24 hour coverage of people discussing whether there are too many TV channels." You've put into words what a lot of us are thinking.
mcmanaman | November 24, 2010 - 14:10
Thank-you! Going to have a big rewrite of it, just looks like lots of ideas rather than a poem at the moment. So will have another look. Thanks for taking time to read.
John
phase2 | June 26, 2011 - 16:59
Like worrying about future linked with scalextric where you just go round the same track - the future is the same as the past, time is the only difference. Too many tv channels bit is good, truly pointless. And then, as if in big gesture you lie down in fast lane when nothing is moving.
Do you need all the other analogies to unplug?