synapse lapsed

synapse lapsed

 

 

 

 

in an abandoned house

up to a dusty attic 

lodgers sit quiet

unopened books silently reside

 

volumes of print,

on actual pages,

alien to those on the rest of the block

 

screens of symbols on lighted objects

glow from dark windows

across from the "Condemned" sign

the boards rotting,

the binders crumbling

 

home of the ancient readers

formal language, now foreign

to its own people

 

a gadget rings

a pizza delivers itself to an address

electronic voice says thank you

blinks twice

 

looks across the street,

short circuits with laughter

as the U-Haul is loaded

with strange atrocities

 

thinks to itself,

"what the heck are those things?"

then flashes a few codes

heads for a new block

 

passes several individuals who never look up

faces buried into a screen

they barely notice the robotic car

as it motors into a future

 

they could never imagine

since imagination's dead and buried

in some Land Line "boot hill"

with those weird objects

that came from the attic of the past

from a now torn-down sophistication

 

that is considered a dilapidated

relic of when society

actually had its own brains.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

5/6/16 

Reviews

[...]

This brought me back to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, one of my favorite all time books. It's a good morning. The birds are singing gloriously, I just read another stellar from one of my favorite poets that brought me back to one of my favorite books, and the coffee fits in nicely with the rest of this morning brew :) That last line's a real eye opener @@....think they are calling it Trans humanism...sigh. Maybe an EMP wouldn't be so bad after all

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful words, lynn....

have another cup....

j.

[Einstein Noodle]

poignant ..melancholy commentary ... when i have my children and grandchildren over for a barbecue ..i confiscate i-pods, i-phones, smart a*s phones etc. etc. as they use to sit in the living room actually texting one another .. and the smart cars scare the be-geebers out of me!
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, E.---yes, they can surely be a disconnect for some, rather than a connect, and where has the face to face gone?
appreciate your words,
j.

[Einstein Noodle]

:) ................ so poor as it may be ....is my face : I

[jacob erin-cilberto]

ha ha..it's a good face, too.

i was referring to face to face conversations...we used to have so many of those in the late sixties in college....people actually got together...

[Einstein Noodle]

yes ..i know ... i think the bst connections i ever made were actually in high school ..we (usually 4 or 5 of us) could sit around for hours just shootin' the breeze :)

[Alfred Kukitz]

I'm reading through the narrative anticipating a great closing. I smelled the beauty of your pen crossing the rubicon of insights. Whoa!

There it sat! Nice work Jacob!

Regards,
Al

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Al...

j.

[Pryde Foltz]

I met up with a good friend of mine the other day. I asked if he still didn't have a cell phone and he asked if I still had mine. He feels they distract from life and I think they bring me closer to those who are far. You see with my cell phone, dear poet, you are always in my pocket. What do you think of that:)

[jacob erin-cilberto]

what i think is that in themselves they are not evil...it depends how we use them...just like money...and you have yours for the right reasons...the young people today have them, are addicted to them, and have such disconnect because of them....i often see two people in a restaurant on a pizza date...and both are sitting there texting others, not even talking to one another...and that makes me sad.

you use yours for the right reasons....:))))

j.