Technology has done much good,
but can’t cure the common cold,
it can keep you looking young,
but not from growing old.
'Let your fingers do the walking,'
used to be the plan,
nowadays, it's all thumbs and emojis,
as smart phones dumb down man.
When online, doing a search,
no matter what I type,
the 'engine' always knows best
and 'corrects' my text to the current hype.
Mostly, I'm so tired of being asked,
by AI, 'How did we do?'
when, in the end, I did all the work,
now, how about you?
You have to admit that the online world is one of competition
You have to seriously stand out to gain popularity and recognition
To create and design applications that grabs at the heart of the people
This is a task and a responsibility that would only seem simple
You have to have the time and the staff to be able to do so
You would need the money and willing sponsors for the growth
Let's not mention the reviews and opinions of others as well
You would also need a couple of in-app purchases to help it sell
Staying on top of all the registered complaints is also what it entails
Being smart enough to have a back up plan if it isn't successful enough
To be a top notch app developer, man it must be tough.
“You must shut off your phone;
Place it into this case
Which we’ll lock up, until
You will exit this place.”
This was outside the theater
And, lo and behold,
No one griped, but all did
Just what they had been told.
It was strange, but real nice
Seeing not one lit screen
In the audience, members
Thrown off their routine.
No distractions from texters
Or people so bored
They must Google the news,
With politeness ignored.
So instead, all were focused,
The whole multitude,
On the actors, with some scenes
Performed in the nude.
That was likely the reason
No phones were allowed,
But I loved being part
Of an old no-tech crowd.
black and white fifties
photos used to be priceless
film was costly
black fifties phones
attached to a wall
shared by parents, children discouraged from usage
wee've awl maid miss takes
sum foke think their perfect butt
cann knot sea era’s!
eye fink aye cann right
butt eye’ll admit sum era’s
sum thymes doo app pier
These hand sized gadgets is something we use to communicate
We use these devices to relate good news that can't wait
We take pictures and create memories of our experiences
Also to record a conversation or video criminal offenses
Many addictions have been created as technology evolves
Different social medias and games to keep everyone involved
One phone seems to vary in cost from another
With apps such as FaceTime to help distant lovers
Those are the advantages but there's also disadvantages
Those that causes you to put your neighbor in bandages.
A conversation full of joy or an argument that's perplexed
You end up taking someone's life while sending a message in a text
You can't drive and focus while someone is screaming in your ear
Attempting to do so is like jumping rope after having a few beers
Know when and how a cell phone should be used
A topic that this current generation has confused
In many parks along peaceful walking trails
wind phones can now be found across the world.
With the help of an old rotary dial telephone,
mourners can speak freely to lost loved ones.
These phones are the direct line to the other side
for those who sadly never got to say goodbye.
Mourners can speak their heart into the wind
to help process their grief on the road to healing.
A phonecall has the power to release built-up anguish
for those longing to attain closure and a sense of peace.
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Let’s get this show on the road,
The car's still empty and we can't seem to load
Susie's applying makeup, Jake’s playing video games,
Mary’s scrolling her socials, where friends call her names.
I want to get to the airport, I want to be
clambering into an Impressionist painting of the sea
Ride the chestnut ponies, get back to something real,
My kids are in a rabbit hole, they forgot how life can feel.
(Chorus)
We're on an oven burner, like a doomed toad—
So let’s get out of here, get this show on the road,
We'll ride wild ponies, neighing by the sea.
We'll go back to living, we'll go back to free.
It helps sometimes to leave a comfort zone,
Children connected to the whole world, but to me they seem alone.
The old ways had their wisdom, and a simpler moral code,
Let’s flip this circus upside down; get this show back on the road.
She looked pretty at the Zebra crossing,
weaving slowly, her shampooed hair tossing,
cars stopped still, to allow her go across,
who wouldn’t stop to let a beauty pass!
She looked neither to her left nor her right,
body cutting out shape in pants bit tight,
eyes fixed on the messages on her phone,
tripping when side stepping a traffic cone.
She continued her walk on the pavement,
her gaze on phone, no other engagement,
people just getting out of her long strides,
moving out, leaning against walls on sides.
She will, let us pray, march on and reach home,
Walking in a dream with eyes on her phone,
Smart phone habits have made people road blind,
live in a cyber, not engage their mind.
a habit that has cost many their lives,
smart phones kill more now than do guns and knives,
when use road pay attention to surrounds,
watch each step well as your feet touch the ground.
not fashionable if on phone walking,
drivers, road users find it annoying,
drop habit, urge others to do the same,
can save lives, limbs, if this habit we tame!
phones used to be for phone calls
back in the day
my day
the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties
Now phones include word games
video games, emails, reference books
text messages, voice mail, websites
Terms we did not know yet back in the day
My day
In 1964 I would have never believed that I would someday
use a phone like George on the Jetson’s cartoon show
I thought that Zoom was laughable, a comical impossibility.
I could not have envisioned future I-phones back in the day.
Remember twisting the spiral cord attached to the wall, so you could sit on
the floor around the corner from your parents and
use their communal phone? I sure do!
Forthcoming Summer Hiku 21
summer on the w -a –y
pearly s ~h ~o ~r ~e vacation dreams
~~~~~~~~
s -t -r -e -a -m -i -n -g from smartphones.
A woman splayed upon a lofty beach—
the drunkard’s stumble-street-strut-jumble-key—
BUY NOW, AND GET THE SECOND [this/that] FREE!
—and what’s this cracked out weirdo got to preach?
…”about the senate’s 3rd bid to impeach…”—
.(Get lost.-)—.IF YOU THINK YOU’LL NEVER BELIE—
look,look!a man crushed by a falling tree!—
—(“oh!—my God!”)—nvm—it’s…freedom…of speech?
Get real! Wake up! Which trope must I invoke?—
(Uh?)—GET REAL RELIEF FROM [this.that]for cheap…—
(Am I getting déja vu?)—(Wait a minute…
)—"everyone’s already way deep in it!"*—
(Who’s telling me that?)—it crawls like a creep:
*Deconformity,(am I just a joke?).
We first met coasting the blurred lines
of the information superhighway. We
exchanged polite words and respectful
kindness, though we seldom saw or heard
each other.
I am the old man of touch and eye contact,
you are the princess of text and illusions.
I adapt to your hot realms, to your affinity
for glittering screens because past and future,
old and young are but shadows cast
over the now.
Once I learned the rules, I believed in you.
You are alive and fragrant within the text
you deliver each moment of each day.
In the photos you send, in the stories you share,
you thrive and brighten my journey!
Social Media Princess,
my apps erect you through your words,
like the heroine I love in my favorite novel,
the perfect Eidolon in my dreams.
You return, making your offerings
again, and again. I somehow hear your
whispering words soothing my
solitary hungry heart. I somehow awaken
to your textual passion and kindness,
to my love and longing for you.
Smiling at strangers, or saying hello
passing the time, on my walks down the street
with mixed responses, from those you don’t know
some stare at their phones or else at their feet
Joggers those nodders, take you in their stride
focussed on fitness, or some sort of race
barely acknowledge that you moved aside
they'll choose to refuse a look at your face
Pushy young parents, oh so self-aware
they hurry by without hesitation
gripping their pushchairs, as though they don’t care
now I worry for new generations
But those with their mutts, serial walkers
No ifs or buts, they're serious talkers.
They had just called us over.
So I knew it was 5:00.
We’re all restless now, so it’s 5:02.
He’s always a little late.
When the window opens,
It is tempting to run back to bed.
But I can’t sleep anyway.
I don’t ask about the pills.
It’s a secret- but what we don’t know will save us.
Dinner will be served soon.
So we can play with plastic forks and spoons.
Then the calls roll in.
So I know it’s 6:00.
Some people are yelling, while others have loved ones at home.
Me?
I just know I love my mom.
I had to go, a fight broke out.
So I know it’s 6:27 as the phones cut off.
Soon, I lose my mind again.
And start chatting with the people I’m excited to leave behind.
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