Here

You sit
Across from me
Recliner rocking
Eyes glued
To the screen
Smartphone or
Tablet
Headphones
Nowhere
To be seen

Must listen
To reels and vids
That nearly
Make me want to
Scream

No way
To start
The day
Any day

With

Algorithms’
Siloed sway
Vitriol
Fear
Propaganda
Bread and theater
Minus the bread

You send me
Angry looks
Distain
When I put
My headphones in
To relax
My troubled mind
With music or
A book of the
Audio kind

Rather than
Start my day
Wrong with
Political theater
And existential
Despair

It’s disheartening
To feel the need
To start our day
Angry or sad

–LE – 7/6/25