Everything started out slow
We didn’t have places to go
We had to know everyone in the village
Before invaders started to pillage
Our treasures and delights
Speed up the world and its light
The sun sets faster when you’re running from time
Because it always runs better
As we crawl out of the slime
Civilization begins to start
Everyone walks around with metal in their heart
We start to create words meant to part conversations
Small talk
Takes a walk
Into a town that started small
But now grows tall
With walls to keep out invaders
Later, we begin to hate our fate
Envious of those in a population so ginormous
We try to take on new forms
This is what we call societal norms
And it shapes our new state
We debate topics
That skirt the edge of new propriety
We climbed high in society
But conversation burned
We learned about technology
That rocked our world
Information in seconds
With ones and zeros that unfurled into lives
DNA becomes simple and our race strives
For bigger
Better
Faster
Rules down to the letter
Who has time to read the full news?
We just choose who needs to lose
And win
Politics become a joke
Our government goes up in smoke
And we stay glued to our screens
Their bright sheen pierces our eyes
And when we look up through the lies
We fantasize the world we were just in
When ones and zeros become slim and slimmer
Our minds become dim and dimmer
As we take a trimmer to our thoughts
Now tell me how conversation’s gone
I’ll try to tell you that it’s wrong
But that’s an opinion, never a fact
The fact is, we’re just on a different tract
Yet if I hear another phrase repeat
If I see another bleed before yell defeat
Or another cheat while the honest pays
My hours stretch into days
With all these pleasantries
Questioning frees the mind
But not the kind we hide behind
How’s your children?
How’s your wife?
Did you get a new cat?
How’s your life?
What happened to you five minutes ago?
Tell me the news I already know
Tell me about your hobbies that pass the time
I’ll tell you about my possessions proud to be mine
If I hear another word that sits flat
I’ll ask, “who wants to know that?”
I want to know why you wake up in the morning
What rain tastes like on your tongue
What songs make you dance
Or cry when they’re sung
What a child’s smile does to your face
How did you get your grace?
What is your favorite place to escape to
If you have any vices, if so, how few?
Please
I can’t take another conversation that dulls my mind
I don’t want to feel behind
But ahead
Don’t make me dread listening to you
But I don’t know what to do
Tell me there’s another one too
Who feels like me
From the mind-numbing placidity of normal life
I’ll take it in strife now
But expect me to snap soon
***
This a longer poem, because it encompasses the very beginning to the present of humanity and its interactions with each other. I enjoyed writing this piece, because it allowed me to reflect on the conversation I have with people closest to me. A recent frustration of mine involved observing how shallow most conversations seem. I start to abhor how people repeat themselves and each other, or how small talk can stretch for hours. There is a direct correlation with how fast our world moves and the depth of our social interactions, because I believe if we were to take all the schedules and electronics and deadlines away, we would be left with nothing but time to discuss and think.
Alice Griffin Writes 