With weight of wet
in wool,
he’s waterlogged
and wrecked;
He’s drawn to depths
and calls for help:
mayday, mayday.
But … important
selfie seconds slips,
and stolen from salvation
his shipwrecked soul;
his life lies wasted for
a hundred hearts
on Instagram;
and likes
on Facebook
beats his breath and
heartbeat IRL:
And afterwards
we blamed, we shamed
the coward crowd
the heartless youths
the journalists
the social media meme men
who acted in the
only way a modern
mad man can, where
action and compassion
is replaced by
revenue of ads.
Head Of A Drowned Man by Theodore Gericault
Awful and so tawdry. But well-described! Thanks! k.
A sign of the times for certain .. Great write!
I can only compare to the refugees drowning every day in the Mediterranean. A very topical poem for today’s hyper connected world.
This is cutting edge stuff, Bjorn. The excess of alliteration mirrors the hype and hyperbole we are subject to on a daily basis. I’m reading this quite late but I will come back tomorrow when I can study it more closely. Thanks for participating.
These lines especially struck me as so apt of today’s sense of what it means to be known and cared for.
his life lies wasted for
a hundred hearts
on Instagram
Bjorn, great point of view, a reflection of the plethora of selfies, filmclips, media mania we are deluged with. Missing, indeed, compassion and discretion, to say the least. Great write!
what we deem important … or real these days. I love the internet … but nothing can compare with a hand, a touch, a smile… conversation and seeing the emotions flit across a face… And I’d rather have two great wonderful friends that 10000 of FB!
Such a clever write. Maybe Dante will need to return and write a new circle in hell for the age of technology.
I actually started to write about that a few years ago.
I agree with Brian – it also brings cyber bullying to mind as well as the feeling that you have to keep up with social media for fear of missing out on something – life!
Wonderfully terrifying screen grab of the impoteent narcissim of the age.
what a timely write in our social media driven world – it needs a lot of wisdom to use social media in a wise way – i know of quite some teens who cannot see the shore anymore
“wasted for
a hundred hearts
on Instagram;
and likes
on Facebook” We’ve traded emotion for emoji
Dark, sad and bang on – a chilling indictment of the depths that the trappings of modernity have brought us to..
What is real, what is not? A pertinent question in our age of hyper-media and constant awareness — that isn’t really an awareness at all, if we are not careful, mindful, watchful — I’m perplexed, chilled — thank you for sharing.
Spot on.
action and compassion
is replaced by
revenue of ads.
How right you are Bjorn! These days money talks. Newsprint and magazines are comparatively expensive with limited coverage. The social media begets big returns through their ads.
Hank
Perfect title for this, Bjorn. I find the whole “out-there” life, very sad.
Excellent poem.