[Aaron Novick]

When I consider how my tweets are spent

When I consider how my tweets are spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide
And that one bad tweet which I'd die to hide
Lodg'd on my timeline, though my fingers bent
To serve therewith the Twitter, and present
Some better tweets, lest @jack returning chide;
"Doth @jack extract my data, joy denied?"
I fondly ask. But Data, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "@jack doth not need
Either man's tweets or his own cash; who best
Feed his AI, they serve him best. His reich
Is hellsite. Millions at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only lurk and like."

[Matt Q]

Very nice Aaron. "They also serve who only lurk and like". I didn't know who @jack was, but I looked him up, "We believe Twitter helps people connect to something bigger than themselves, shows all the amazing things happening in the world, and all the things we need to acknowledge and address. We‘re constantly learning how to make it freer and healthier for all to participate.". An apt God-substitute indeed. "Ere half my days in this dark world" is very nicely re-purposed. I wish I could get my percentage down. I'm not a Twitterer (Twit?) yet, but on social media in general (poetry sites count to some extent too I think?).

OK, on the "dark world" theme ....

[Matt Q]

Sisyphus Online

One must imagine Sisyphus happy
– Albert Camus

Sisyphus on Twitter, posting
pictures of his rock.
Albert Camus is looking on
in existential shock.

Sisysphus on YouTube, watching
reruns of The Voice.
Albert Camus rewrites his words
on absurdity and choice.

Sisyphus is torrenting,
downloading Rocky IV,
Albert Camus, now feverish,
revises more and more.

Sisysphus on porno sites,
scrolling through the nudes.
We cannot call this happiness,
Monsieur C. concludes.

[Aaron Novick]

Retweets are counted sweetest

Retweets are counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a mention
Requires ignorèd tweets.

Not one of all the Big Accounts
Whose Tweets were liked today
Enjoy notifications
That sign virality

As he so small – replying –
On whose unfunny joke
The distant strains of Discourse
Burst agonized and woke.

[RCL]

On First Looking into The Art of the Tweet

Much have I travelled where the Truth is sold
And many failing D.C. leaders seen
Round about his towers and golf-links scene
Where gofers faithful to the POTUS trolled.
Often of his great deals I have been told
That won the USA as his domain;
Yet never had I heard words so insane
Till I heard POTUS tweet out loud and bold:
Then I felt like flyers in the skies
Who fear Korean missiles threatened then;
But dreading, even more, Klan rebel cries
As POTUS praises racist tribes—white men
Rejoicing at his tweeted deals and lies—
Bloody, amidst the antifascist carrion.