Antisocial Media
By Mark D. Stucky
I remember the old days
when people only had friends
they’d actually met in person,
before “social media” seduced us,
and people became less social,
sitting alone and anonymous,
insulting strangers and neighbors,
tweeting threats and riotous rants,
multiplying misinformation,
damaging decency and democracy.
Antisocial media betrays us
and the original vision
of joining virtual hands
and singing “Kum Ba Yah.”
Did media change our culture
by clouding minds and hearts?
Or by unleashing demons
lurking among us all along?
(See also my poems "The Art of the Devilish Deal," "Tweeting the Truth in Love," "Hate Vacuuming?" and “What Would Jesus Tweet?")
(Image by geralt on Pixabay.com.)
I only worship at my own altar
I do not even go to nightclubs
I do not even know the Kaaba
Or kneel for a word of prayer
Not even a chant in the stadium
I do not even like talking to others
When I do
It always comes back to me, Karma
I feel stressed to see a banker
Its even worse with doctors
Unless I am dying, Nirvana
and my lips are all chapped
That's when I call for mother
To heal me rebirth me
Madonna, Miracle worker
What kind of man? I wonder
But my poems are a way to reach ya
Hold your hand, touch ya
Share myself, appreciate ya
Show my dirt, entertain ya
Heal your heart, medicate ya
Share my thoughts, Liberate ya
Make you like me, Imitate ya
It is always with love, I seduce ya
And when your are lost, Calibrate ya
So without going Further
I do this for you with care
If you find it in you return a favour
For an Antisocial Humanitarian
Es, es why
Please tell me
Why
Guess tell
Why
I love you
Like I do
What ways
To speak it
When others
Might seek it
and have us
Dispaired
Tell me you
Care
Tell me
You care
And we
Can start
Our love thing
anew
For one to mark off a box in completion, then comes a sense of joy. But what's confusing is that all the tasks he did as a boy.
To feel what you want to be able to is a privilege of itself, to experience emotions in which you have not felt, sympathy and guilt are on my top shelf.
My bucket list is not filled brim with black cats, nor is it filled with sorrow. Instead i want to reach into my hat, and pull out my feelings of tomorrow.
A feeling in which i have never felt is something i wish to see. As for the thoughts i find inside of myself make it difficult for me to breathe.
Longing to be pushed into other shoes, i do my best to make them fit. But with the blisters and the rashes I should probably assume that their just not my width.
Dead silence the cold shoulder.
He couldn't be bothered to feign interest.
Not even to be polite.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
eccentric she was
socially awkward
somewhat paranoid
with bizarre twitches
not mixing in
an outcast
of her own doing
a square peg
in a round hole
not fitting in
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Paperbacks tell the tales
Of those lost in time
They occupy your intellect
You slowly waste your mind
Like television and internet
There are worse ways to unwind
Judgement comes from all around
Plentiful rumours are abound
Dig deeper into the manuscript
You'll never hear a sound
Hours turn to years
The voices come now calling
Their messages become clear
Simple times are one thing
That thing you've come to fear
Holding you back
From things you see in nightmares
From the shadows they attack
The story now reality
Never know the facts
This world begins to slip away
How's to spend your final days
Shaking hands get a grip
Lost in your own mental play
You'll figure it out
You'll figure it out
Disconnect no time to reflect
While pins and needles climb your neck
Veins collapse and the memories crash
No Phoenix to rise from the ash
Stole your soul your self control
At least now you know
What's inside the rabbit hole
Young Peter is far from perfect
Teen anger he fails to deflect
His trail of destruction
Has caused such a ruction
You should see the items he’s wrecked
His parents do little to stop him
They’re addicts, and too busy popp’in
Heroin and pills
Which don’t cure their ills
The outlook for Peter is grim
He ‘borrowed’ a car with his mates
and drove very fast round estates
they didn’t get far
cos they crashed the car
they’ve not even got their L plates!
He shoplifts from the local shops
Been caught many times by the cops
The stupid young fool
He breaks ev’ry rule
T’will be a good job when he stops.
He damaged his neighbours new wall
With spray paint he began to scrawl
Words that were so rude
With pictures so crude
His actions they did so appal
These issues are across our nation
Good morals are a strong foundation
We must guide our youth
With respect and truth
Perhaps it will be their salvation!
Unsuitable for contest as its not free verse but i thought it was still worth posting:-)
4/8/18
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