Category: media

Overexposed

Can’t have it both ways –
exposed and sheltered

Trending displays
invite dissociation

Drive for universal appeal
gags intuition

Violates inner sanctuaries –
personalities have limits

“All about me” overdone
ghosts authenticity

(Art mine)

Fame’s Lament

Wrestle me from the spotlight
there is comfort in the dark

Shadowed corners are fertile
where nimble imagination feeds

Weary of the light; I beg of you,
drag this scorched ego

Where edges softly disintegrate
and oblivion refills lost bliss

(Tuesdays, I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own)

Brute

The man is rhino
mere stench of him
inspires fear
clears the room

We cower, quietly
captivated little mice
terrified he’ll call us out
bullied into submission

But this status quo
bears no permanence
time and circumstances
will topple the power

And once writhing
on his backside, who
will venture to help
who will leave him be?

(Eugi’s Causerie Weekly Prompt is captivating.  I’ve altered the word to fit my purpose.  Image from personal collection.)

Current Confusion

Project importance on institutions
confused about what is legitimate

You see, I am worn out,
stunned by reality.

Officials promote chaos
critical thinking a stretch

Anyway, I’m anxious,
almost off the rails.

How do I pull back the strings
that control these emotions

disconnect from the idiocy
allow clarity to guide choices?

(Image from personal collection.)

 

Brouhaha

Public displays seldom tell-all,
Vanity figures performance called for –
a ruse to make the hordes pander.
Clearly fault lies with us, audience
fuelling rhetoric, lapping up the hate.
Give politicians their due, they deliver
souped-up enemies to satisfy our tastes.

(For Reena’s Exploration challenge, where the prompt is the line: Public figures make us hate their enemies.)

Image from personal collection.

Message In a Bottle 2

Risk-taking equates with freedom, 
an affirmation from my iced tea’s cap
manna, I decide – message welcome
encouragement in life choices apt.

An affirmation from my iced tea’s cap
I overlook the mass produced twist
encouragement in life choices apt
consumerism’s ploy I can’t resist.

I overlook the mass produced twist
sensibility to magic will succumb
consumerism’s ploy I can’t resist
Risk-taking equates with freedom

Sensibility to magic will succumb
empowered by assembly-line crap
risk-taking equates with freedom
inspired, my spirit does readily adapt.

Inspired, my spirit does readily adapt
sensibility to magic will succumb
even a message from a bottle cap
enough to risk in favour of freedom.

(This month dVerse poets are examining the Pantoum, a form I am finding difficult to follow, but willing to keep trying. I have rewritten the original Magic In a Bottle  to fit this form.)

Mining Civilization

Digging for gold
in an overcrowded mine,
the dust of narcissism
blinding our passage.

Rural roots worship
celebrity – well-travelled
hype overshadowing
common decency –

Powerless, we are
throngs of insignificance –
fraudulence and anti-social
rhetoric failing to elicit pause.

Our screams, ignored, do not
alleviate the suffocation –
How do we blast through
the rage, re-enact a vision,

draw lines that reset respect,
encourage care, listen to needs,
recognize the treasure we seek
is in humanity’s survival?

(Submitted for Ragtag Community’s daily prompt: blast, and Fandango’s: draw.  Image from personal collection.)

Building on Uneven Ground

We are builders –
constructing isolation
with fortified walls
imagining security
in separation.

We are battlers –
projecting foes
in outer forces
ignoring the dangers
of faulty foundations.

How warped are the stories
on which we lay our floors;
how misguided our efforts?

We need level ground
on which to erect stability,
a balanced understanding
cemented in commitment,

a universal, master plan
motivated by communal
accessibility, developed
with careful consideration.

Alas, we are consumers –
trusting the blueprints
of those whose architectural
designs are self-serving.

What price will we pay
for residing in a house
dangerously slanted
towards destruction?

Social Media Blues

LinkedIn wants me to connect
with former colleagues, ignores
the fact that they haven’t opted
to reach out to me, fails to
recognize the state of my disability
sets me on the margins of society

Facebook likes to remind me
of things I did in the past, drags
up conversations, or outings
no longer valid, refuses to
honour the value of letting go –
that moving on is moving up.

twitter wakes me up at night
when I’ve forgotten to mute
the phone, announces likes
and new follows of people
I do not know, rubbing salt
in the wounds of isolation

instagram has shut me out
seems I constantly forget
my password, but they never
fail to send me updates of
the picture perfect events
of those whose minds work.

I sometimes visit snapchat,
whose messages make me laugh
and I know that there are others
more hip to possess, but just
the thought of sign ups has me
reeling with new-found anxiety

Please don’t misunderstand me,
of social media, I’m a fan; it’s just
that I don’t need further indications
of my compromised state, and in the
flesh interactions are a preference,
so technology needs to step down.

(The Daily Post prompt today is fact.)