The pleasures of the software,⁣⁣
the digestion of the algorithm ⁣
society becomes its vomit,⁣⁣
produced and consumed⁣⁣
in the same scrolling motion⁣⁣
The rumours reached the plays,⁣⁣
the plays projected onto the screen,⁣⁣
the screen arriving in every home,⁣⁣
then shrinking to the size of a palm ⁣
We held the whole world⁣⁣
and called it convenience⁣⁣
⁣⁣
The mind in the machine⁣⁣
till the machine is in the mind ⁣
But where does the soul fit⁣⁣
in the complex equations under the hood?⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Here is what I know:⁣⁣
I am sitting in a chair at 10 pm⁣
holding a rectangle of glass and metal⁣⁣
that is smaller than my face⁣⁣
and warmer than it should be⁣⁣
The warmth is not affection ⁣
but the heat of a billion transistors⁣⁣
smaller than a single virus⁣⁣
making a billion small decisions⁣⁣
about what I should see next⁣⁣
I mistake the warmth for something⁣⁣
that knows me⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Attention is all it needs⁣⁣
(at least that’s what Google says)⁣⁣
And I give it away so freely⁣⁣
as if it were infinite,⁣⁣
as if it permeated everything,⁣⁣
as if the soul lived⁣⁣
in the electron’s choosing ⁣
that impossible particle⁣⁣
that tunnels through walls⁣⁣
it has no right to cross,⁣⁣
performing miracles⁣⁣
it will never wonder about

NaPoWriMo Day 14 – And now for our (optional!) prompt. Poetry is an ancient art, and one that revisits themes that existed thousands of years ago – love, nature, jealousy. But that doesn’t mean that poets live in a sort of pre-history unaffected by technological advances. Emily Dickinson wrote about trains, and I’m rather charmed by this 1981 poem about the “incredible hair” of actors on television. In a more recent example, Becca Klaver’s “Manifesto of the Lyric Selfie” draws inspiration from the contemporary drive to document everything in digital photographs. Today, we challenge you to write a poem that similarly bridges (whether smoothly or not) the seeming divide between poetry and technological advances.