The news fuels take-offs – crypto rising, Southwest rebooking,
weapons trading, and lay-offs – alphabets, bladders, and cinemas
trending. The United States Supreme Court claims it’s unable to
identify the source of its own leak. Dominant hands are revived
while responsibility is denied. All letters are scrambled. The
promise of a new year sours when left alone in the open air. Snow
droughts notwithstanding, even raspberries and royals are subject
to soil. Vines propagate as news replicates. Strands of DNA and
RNA shiver. Steroids on full display. Tom Hanks garners clicks,
Netflix cancels more series – Warrior Nun, 1899, and Inside Job;
no one and nothing is alone on this island. Everyone is alone. Tenure
denied. I wonder what Steve Jobs might say. Predictable plotlines
twist like slime. I hear New York City workers waited to scan badges.
Green meant “Go on”. Red, “Go home”. For a tech giant,
the move feels elementary. Games of Hide-and-Go-Seek and
Red Light / Green Light. Heads down. Thumbs up. Game over. Let
computers sleep — there’s time. While Murray pleads for a piss, NPR
interviews experts on the future of laid-off tech. “They’ll bounce back,”
the speakers agree. My fingers volley open tabs. As if the human spirit
(Spirit Airlines also trending) has ever been anything but resilient.
Silly Putty, Play-Doh, war zones in corner stores. We push. We pull.
We break. “But will they want to,” a caller asks and in the 30 seconds
left (on airs, of heirs, hanging in the air) silence speaks. Perhaps
that’s the point of my bloated links. My cursor blinks winks.
About the Poem
Reflection: With so much news, so much of the time (browsers as bloated as tech) sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the hidden links amidst the many tabs.
About the Author
Jen Schneider is a community college educator who lives, works, and writes in small spaces throughout Pennsylvania.