How lucky was I
To be young at a time
With no cellphones or Snap Chat
Just a kitchen landline
Coccooned in my own world
Safe from IG
No clickbait or comments
Just my 3 speed and me
I'd ride thru the backwoods
My location unknown
No airtags or status
Hiding from home
Didn't care about followers
About DMs or chats
Had my skates and my paper route
My green visor hat
I do miss those days
Unaccounted and free
Cartoons ,Luke and Laura
On an antenna TV
I was so hard to get to
and unable to find
Just a weak chance of reaching
On a kitchen landline
my heaven would be filled with art supplies – canvases, brushes and paints.
I would never have to sleep; I could spend days and nights painting.
There would be no cellphones, people would know not to bother me.
If I wanted company, I could flip a switch and they would join me.
My friends and family would be there, doing their own exciting activities
Based on their interests, they could play basketball, swim or play a guitar
Robotics computer geniuses would have an unlimited supply of technology
Joy would filter in and out of our day, as we entertained ourselves.
I would join my family one day a month for eating and laughing.
I would be served mashed potatoes, barbecued pork and pies.
Apple pie, rhubarb pie, banana cream pie, chocolate pie, lots of pies.
I would see my friends whenever I wanted, and we would laugh like loons.
My heaven would be open to revision, so I could change it up as I evolved.
I would love the feeling of love and unity; and the freedom to be me.
My heaven would allow me to be myself, always.
Reality is coming.
Don't you hear its wings, a-thrumming?
When prosperity smiled
on the people of the Nile
and there was bread and onions
no Calvins, Luthers, Bunyans
could disrupt the daily toil
to sell them snake oil,
but the workers in crisis
are sure to turn to Isis.
totem poles, Superbowls, Beyonce Knowles
cellphones ring tones Alex Jones
will-they-fire-us, Covid virus, Miley Cyrus
How long can you keep
them walking in their sleep?
In the watches of the night,
don't you sometimes take fright
when you think how it will end,
the day they comprehend?
Rand Paul, Fawn Hall, Rollerball
go-fasters, phony pastors, US Masters
shock jocks, Redsox, Amanda Knox
During the investors' meeting,
don't you hear those wings, a-beating?
June 26, 2025
Only if I can reach all children in this world through my simple works and writings...
So many children speak different languages and I don't know all of them. Children living in both urban and rural areas may have access to television sets and internet. However, there are more children who stay in areas very far from schools, hospitals and churches. And these children may have not even seen cellphones, modern gadgets or innovations of different sorts. I wonder how they educate themselves?
This message is not an appeal to all adults (and/or parents) of the modern age. I can only do small things, but YOU can do better after reading my simple reminder!
Thank you for your warm thoughts and precious time.
Cliff
I’m bringing out the songs
lingering inside
as patrons in the bar
gaze at me—
I’ve been waiting for this night
for the last two days.
I am looking for the stars
while singing from my heart.
I sing I’ve Just Seen a Face
something I first heard
in sixth grade when walking
into the classroom.
Through the years it stirs
sweet memories of women I met.
I sing I Will, a ballad
for women I’ll always love.
People at the bar
wave cellphones lit like lighters
at a concert.
When I sing Band on the Run
by Paul McCartney and Wings
a sense of wanderlust fills my soul
to go back to my college town
as if I could live my life again.
I’ve been an aide to child welfare workers,
a laborer, a temp, and poet, too.
But now to the glow of neon lights
I become someone other than
my everyday self
as music spells the night.
It was a whole other world
No cellphones or tablets
No text messages
People gathered and talked
The most popular places no longer exist
Every afternoon and all weekends
The place to be was the lunch counter
Woolworth’s always had the best
Every store in every mall and street
Great food that never emptied your pocket
And a staff that would make your day happy
No matter what mood you were in
It is so sad that Woolworth’s had to die
Sadder yet, the lunch counters went with them
But we do have memories and pictures
That way, they will always be alive
© Poem – XXVIII/X/MMXXIV
LRET
Good thing we came home early with our cellphones.
Buddy had already ordered two truckloads of bones.
We took pictures to prove on social media how smart he is.
He ordered some weird dog food too called Puppy Wizz.
His comrade in crime, Sophie, was supposed to be the look out.
She was sound asleep on the couch; in the way of our route.
She had slowed us down, giving Buddy time to turn off the computer.
He had also called the vet and cancelled his appointment to neuter.
Good thing we came home early with our cellphones.
Buddy had already ordered two truckloads of bones.
We took pictures to prove on social media how smart he is.
He ordered some weird dog food too called Puppy Wizz.
His comrade in crime, Sophie, was supposed to be the look out.
She was sound asleep on the couch; in the way of our route.
She had slowed us down, giving Buddy time to turn off the computer.
He had also called the vet and cancelled his appointment to neuter.
I am in the doctor’s office
waiting for my husband having his usual checkup
three people are having conversations
with other people using cellphones
you want to see the video of you getting shots when you were one?
He plays the video for her saying “you got a shot here, here and here”
She is about three and begins whining as she watched this video.
Daddy says “What is wrong with you?”
Lady across the aisle is asking “did he wet the bed last night?”
I am amazed that people think it is okay to talk on the phone in public
Maybe it is a way to prevent conversation with strangers
It works for me
thoughts, willy-nilly, drift out of mind
restless in the muddle of entanglements
things
twisted
like my garden watering hose that weeps the earth to life
a bold green pushed to fruition
twisted
like winding highways that overtake you with litter
scraps of fast food for gulls in cherished feeding
twisted
like student summer factory work that manufactures
cursing
when assembly line work disassembles purpose
twisted
like landfill debris of mangled cellphones
tech faith that ushers us to connective clutter
twisted
like barely concealed malice
an ugliness unfolding worthy of trash TV
twisted
like war's celebratory cruelty, the tyrant's glee
in threatening a seeded nuclear future
still
in the midst of blaze and fumes, caress what's most
vulnerable
affirm the grit of human living
and hold out hope
like a candle hovering just outside a keyhole
Poem composed April 13, 2023
Telephones are melting minds,
digital waves are cooking brains.
Facebook is our judge and jury.
An old man is eating ice cream cones,
one after an another.
He is sniffing little girls hair
unaware that anyone is watching.
I think his strange demeanor
signals that he doesn’t care
about America, just the Ukraine -
maybe we should move there,
might be safer?
Idiots shout into their cellphones
and the whole world is now a telephone booth;
global warming is a dire warning
and apparently methane is the scourge of the earth.
We more responsible citizens
are just trying hard not to fart.
Many children asked for funny stories before bed time.
We did it.
More children love to hear praises than excuses.
We did it.
More and more children demand for rewards
than punishment. We did it.
Most children want cellphones than parents...
Who did it?
They were accounted for,
they were officially dead,
but the alarming fact was
that large numbers of the dead
had gone missing.
Occasionally, still pinging cellphones
were found in Hades, Purgatory, and
other Bardo states.
Olympus was drunkenly silent,
as were almost all of the seven heavens.
In nirvana,
the footwear of some of the deceased,
had been left in a pile awaiting a divine fire,
footprints were seen
as if waiting for a cooling wash
in the fountain of everlasting life.
The missing had presumably
transported themselves
to some less boneheaded ideas
of the life after, one not yet imagined
by any dogmatic priesthood.
God was accused of not packaging
the deceased properly.
However the missing were never found
having discovered their own way out
of all that doctrinal,
inconsequential madness.
TIME issues:
1. Whenever I am short on time, I eat my watch, and always have seconds to spare.
2. Why do I still buy old clocks and collectible watches in a cellphone age? I love keeping time.
Looking at the news,
Hearing of this Y2K ,
Everyone is concerned,
So scared,
So fearful,
That they will have no internet or cellphones.
I remember our cellphones,
They were C.B. radios In our cars.
The phones at home are called landlines.
The worst thing about that,
Was the cord not reaching.
Cable, there was no Cable only 3 channels.
There was no such thing as a couch potato.
Kids played outside until dark.
Families ate at the dinner table every nite.
No video games, no Nintendo.
Technology has made life easier,
But burdened the family dynamic.
Then the announcement there was no Y2K.
So now everyone can keep their,
Precious little toys.
I sit wondering is this really a good thing?
So back to video games, cell phones
And families ignoring each other and
The disappearance of family dinner's.
A thing of the past.
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