Having vented at technology in my previous wikem , here is a
more optimistic take…
Wikem definition here
Story-telling; Modern storytelling has a broad purview. Wikipedia
Mountains and oceans
No longer bar
Where I am
To where you are
Our stories mingle
Half a world between
By the slight, soft, simple
Tap of a screen
And we would be strangers
In 'the way it was’
Where now our laughter
And tears blend because
…Someone discovered
By touch and click
How to place the world
At our fingertips
…and the stories we tell
Can be shared world-wide
Because someone believed
The impossible and tried
© Janet Martin
Aren't you glad? ...and like anything; it's a highway with a ditch on both sides.
I am glad and grateful to those who "believed the impossible and tried."
ReplyDeleteBut my iPhone is still unpacked... My daughter has been pushing her "middle-ancient" mother to give it a try at least.. I might actually listen to her :-)
:-0 I have a feeling eventually this mother will be presented with one too but in Canada owning a cell-phone can cost a lot. It's a bill we simply don't need right now!
DeleteI realized as soon as I wrote the previous poem that I am far more linked to technology than I even realize...first I replied to a few e-mails then continued watching tutorials on chalk-painting and distressing old furniture. (just finishing up a piece and its fun!!). So helpful to have experts at one's fingertips on almost anything. although this is also a reason why phones don't ring as often as they did in the 'I'll ask my friend or sister or mom'. before 'ask google'
I'd love to see the result of your chalk-painting and distressing project!
DeleteYou never cease to amaze, Janet..
will do. I'm semi-pleased with the end-result :-+ but eager to try again!
DeleteThese lines immediately made me think about my thankfulness that one day I decided to stay better in touch with my children and grandchildren. At 69 I bought a cell phone and learned to text, figuring out that this is how they prefer to communicate. A few months later they and my husband bought me a laptop and a few months later, with a friend's help, I started to blog.
ReplyDeleteAnd that led me to dear blog friends but especially to a Greek-Canadian living in Crete who blogs at Poppy View. Blogging became almost like the television show The Voice, where sight unseen meant age differences were wiped out, and I found a friendship that would not have been when an ocean would have barred it.
She is Poppy and I hope you will visit her if you haven't already. Like you, she thinks in poetry, as easily as others do in prose. I think you two would like each other.
That's just it! there is so much good in technology when used in proper balance! Jim, my husband is a truck-driver and gone most of the time except week-ends, and he keeps in touch with our 4 kids via texting. They forward things that they think the other will enjoy, etc. And yes, the blogging friendships are so dear. I love your comparison to The Voice. those auditions are so much fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteGood for you for not being afraid to try something new! it is definitely the way young people communicate, for better or worse.
I will definitely check out Poppies Place. thank-you!
Hi Janet,
ReplyDeletethought you'd enjoy this, while you're considering a phone:
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/17/sidewalk-flowers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+brainpickings%2Frss+%28Brain+Pickings%29
(sorry the link is so long, don't know why..hope it works)
I have no idea where my reply went this morning...maybe i hit delete instead of publish. Thank-you for this link. It worked and i have the book on hold from our local library. I also subscribed to this site:) Also LOVE Annie Dillard's writing!
Deletethank-you again. It's funny. The very next day we had another 'mom, you need a phone' discussion:) so who knows, maybe I'll get a flip-top pay-as-you-go or something but not yet:))