Everything I know I learn from Google & Social Media Blues

 

computer image

 

Everything I know I learn from Google

 

My spellchecker, my thesaurus, my encyclopedia

my music player, my video player,

my search for prayer, for meaning, for understanding

my need for titillation, entertainment, delight

all pass by the search engine

everything is clicked into being.

The neurons

of my skull tranferenced via fingertip calligraphy into screen-saved, hard-disc-ed reality

 

just plug and play

google and go

to salvation and bliss

turn turn turn to everything

under the sun

lidded droopy blues and wide-open brown

the world is a face

its lips and cheeks within time’s bending sickle’s compass come

moods lighting up and darkening

smile/frown/scowl/scorn/

spitting image of devil/angel/harlot/bartlet/kumquat/pomegranate

 

No longer black script on white mashed up wood pulp

laser jetstream

lazy wet scream

search the interface

mind brilliance shining through, stringing you along like so much fine silken

threads of dream unfurling

reported speech through ears, through eyes

watching

watching

watching

we print post and message

upload, download, reload

 

The word is upside down

mistaken for a clown

theatre in the round

navel gazing raised to an aesthetic ideal

full frontal faucet blast of bullocks

and truth disguised as Robin Hood with his memories in a trunk

drunk on the wine of poverty and riches

all powerful, all knowing, blowing in the wind

surrender your privacy unto me for thine is the kingdom

 

magnanimous united nations arise

the time has come to be

book booked booked

take took taken

bake baked bacon

 

 

Social Media Blues

 

Gotta get off Facebook, it’s getting mighty lame

Gotta get off Facebook, it’s getting mighty lame

Feel like I’m in highschool, it’s all about fame and shame

 

Never want no Tumblr, it don’t rock or shout

Never want no Tumblr, it don’t rock or shout

Rather be playing guitar–that’s what it’s all about

 

Don’t go for no Twitter, don’t want to be a twit

Don’t go for no Twitter, don’t want to be a twit

If I’m feeling like a bird, my ax is what I’ll hit

 

Don’t call me on my cell, landline and email are enough

Don’t call me on my cell, landline and email are enough

I need some peace and quiet, if not I might get rough

 

Getting off the radar is what I want to do

Getting off the radar is what I want to do

Fly a kite without your scanning, drop off a cliff without you


Paul Serralheiro is a journalist, poet, guitarist and trumpeter. He teaches English at Dawson College in Montreal and is a freelance reviewer, guitarist in blues and jazz duos, trumpeter in several free jazz groups. His poetry has been published in journals and one anthology, and he is now at work on a book of jazz criticism.