Three of my writing pals and I decided to engage in a poetry challenge each week and I'm going to start highlighting them on my blog. Our first challenge was social media and below are each of our poems. Read through and please comment!
Title: Social Media
Writer: Benjamin Jones
Social media
The best and worst of a technological dream
A place comprised of funhouse mirrors where hardly anyone are as real as they seem
A place for the lost and lonely
Who inside feel ugly and awash in infinite shades of black and blue
So they sculpt a better version of themselves online
A click of a mouse and everything is colorful and grand and new
For others it’s a place to connect with their peers
To learn from the other authors and photographers and rappers in the world
Whose dream it is to just to be able to matter to a single boy or girl
It’s an open bar of sorts
A place to vent or watch or laugh at any time
Where there’s always someone to talk to and the possibilities are sublime
A key to unlock the world
What once was far is only a “friending” or “following” away
A genie that has been let out of the bottle
A way to change your life every single day.
Title: Social Media Junkie...or people we all know for real...
Writer: Julie Harris
You're not on Facebook or Twitter?
Man, what are you thinkin?
How do you keep in touch?
When do you catch up on the details
From the lives of all your
Family and friends and such?
Me? Please... I wake up and check
Every single site that I'm on,
I'm even looking right now as we speak.
Wait, is that girl's status about me?
Did you know those two were dating?
Did that girl take a pic of her cheek?
I'm not distracted, I completely remember
Exactly where our conversation
Was about to go...
I was just asking you about your...
Hold up, who just tagged me?
Ugh, someone I barely even know!
By the way, what does it mean,
When, after two months,
My man's status still says "single?"
He checks his page all the time,
So he probably forgot,
But what if it means he still mingles?
Back to what you were saying,
Um... what WERE you saying?
Oh, just give me some more time.
I just got three new followers,
So I HAVE to follow back.
I don't want them to think I'm unkind.
No, I don't know them for "real,"
But, all of these followers
Are truly my friends.
We share happiness and trials,
And everything personal,
And all the silly topics that trend!
Wow, my cousin just had her third kid
I think that she blocked me, though,
Because I can't see her page.
Did I tell you I spoke with my great aunt today?
It's been too long since we've talked,
She's getting up there in age.
I hate when people keep poking me.
Feels like harassment,
Do you think I should sue?
Take a walk in my shoes,
And constantly get poked...
What do you think YOU would do?
Oh, YEAH... Back to you and your life,
Tell me what's going on,
Since I can't look it up on the net.
Did you just ask me to lunch,
So we can talk face to face?
Sure, I guess that I can do that.
Let me put down my phone,
And log off these sites,
I can't tell you how long it's been.
I walk slowly out the door,
A tear rolls down my cheek...
"Don't worry, I'll come back again."
Title: Untitled
Writer: Demetrice Prince
Internet availability...
Institutionalized chaos!
We log on and assume we know so many
Followers...
Friends...
Fans...
Yet some of us barely know who we really are.
Title: All Damn
Writer: Varrsity
With the past, I dwell
I met her in a chat room on A.O.L
Ever since, I’ve been under her spell
I loved her like a Victoria Secret scent, at least I think I do.
I found myself longing for her fragrance
Slaving for her aroma
Impatiently wanting to meet up
So I can decipher these feelings….
Will we be deeply in love, or cheaply in lust?
The more we chatted on A.O.L
The more my interest grew,
Rushing to the keyboard every day after school
And be stuck
Finger clutched on the letters
As if my fingertips were equipped with glue.
On Blackplanet she would always sign my guestbook
With heart shaped pictures
And she even put in her profile that
Her hobbies were talking to me and reading literature.
I figured, that she was the one
But I was only 17
So how could I know what “The One” was?
I just knew, because
I got to know her
She was my Pen Pal
In the form of instant messages and emails
I shared my life with her,
Broke everything down in detail.
Enough of the bullshit I told her
I get my license in August
I past the road test
But parallel parking was the hardest
So can we meet up right before school starts back?
My mom works 3rd shift
So on the weekends she likes to sleep in
We can meet halfway
Because I’m pretty good at driving on the Freeway
I even made a few mixtapes to stop the boredom of the long ride
Email me back, let me know what you decide.
It was only a few minutes but it seemed like a month
Before I finally got a response
It was a colorful background
With a bigger font than normal.
“Sure, I’m looking forward to meeting you
After pleasant introductions, we can do
Any and every thing you want to do.”
I will be wearing a red shirt with some tight jeans
The mall parking lot, say around 4:15.”
I was all smiles
I packed my bag and prepared to tackle these miles.
After a nervous ride, I finally arrived
Looking for a red shirt and pair of sexy legs covered
By tight jeans.
No one fit the description
So I went to a payphone to page her
On her pager.
After walking back to the car
A man pulled up next to me,
Rolled his window down
And said
“You’re not from around here, you seem lost.”
“Yea, I was looking for a friend.”
“A friend you say? Red shirt and tight jeans. Look at the time, it’s 4:15”
I wanted to kick,
Scream
Cry,
Fight,
Run,
Put the pedal to the metal and speed off,
I wanted to be awaken from this nightmare
But I was frozen with disbelief
Blurred vision due to the tears forming
Heart beating in an unnatural rhythm
Beads of sweat forming on my forehead
“You don’t look happy to see me” he stated with a smile
“I’ve been waiting on this moment for a while.”
I started the ignition,
Put the car in drive
And sped off
Feeling like an idiot
For believing that she was the girl of my dreams
When in reality
She wasn’t a she
She was a HE!
All Damn, for the past few months I’ve been getting close to a man
Telling him my most intimate secrets,
Talking dirty to someone
Who has a penis
I disgust myself
Traumatized because of social networking
I may need some professional help.
All Damn!!!
Title: Social Media
Writer: Benjamin Jones
Social media
The best and worst of a technological dream
A place comprised of funhouse mirrors where hardly anyone are as real as they seem
A place for the lost and lonely
Who inside feel ugly and awash in infinite shades of black and blue
So they sculpt a better version of themselves online
A click of a mouse and everything is colorful and grand and new
For others it’s a place to connect with their peers
To learn from the other authors and photographers and rappers in the world
Whose dream it is to just to be able to matter to a single boy or girl
It’s an open bar of sorts
A place to vent or watch or laugh at any time
Where there’s always someone to talk to and the possibilities are sublime
A key to unlock the world
What once was far is only a “friending” or “following” away
A genie that has been let out of the bottle
A way to change your life every single day.
Title: Social Media Junkie...or people we all know for real...
Writer: Julie Harris
You're not on Facebook or Twitter?
Man, what are you thinkin?
How do you keep in touch?
When do you catch up on the details
From the lives of all your
Family and friends and such?
Me? Please... I wake up and check
Every single site that I'm on,
I'm even looking right now as we speak.
Wait, is that girl's status about me?
Did you know those two were dating?
Did that girl take a pic of her cheek?
I'm not distracted, I completely remember
Exactly where our conversation
Was about to go...
I was just asking you about your...
Hold up, who just tagged me?
Ugh, someone I barely even know!
By the way, what does it mean,
When, after two months,
My man's status still says "single?"
He checks his page all the time,
So he probably forgot,
But what if it means he still mingles?
Back to what you were saying,
Um... what WERE you saying?
Oh, just give me some more time.
I just got three new followers,
So I HAVE to follow back.
I don't want them to think I'm unkind.
No, I don't know them for "real,"
But, all of these followers
Are truly my friends.
We share happiness and trials,
And everything personal,
And all the silly topics that trend!
Wow, my cousin just had her third kid
I think that she blocked me, though,
Because I can't see her page.
Did I tell you I spoke with my great aunt today?
It's been too long since we've talked,
She's getting up there in age.
I hate when people keep poking me.
Feels like harassment,
Do you think I should sue?
Take a walk in my shoes,
And constantly get poked...
What do you think YOU would do?
Oh, YEAH... Back to you and your life,
Tell me what's going on,
Since I can't look it up on the net.
Did you just ask me to lunch,
So we can talk face to face?
Sure, I guess that I can do that.
Let me put down my phone,
And log off these sites,
I can't tell you how long it's been.
I walk slowly out the door,
A tear rolls down my cheek...
"Don't worry, I'll come back again."
Title: Untitled
Writer: Demetrice Prince
Internet availability...
Institutionalized chaos!
We log on and assume we know so many
Followers...
Friends...
Fans...
Yet some of us barely know who we really are.
Title: All Damn
Writer: Varrsity
With the past, I dwell
I met her in a chat room on A.O.L
Ever since, I’ve been under her spell
I loved her like a Victoria Secret scent, at least I think I do.
I found myself longing for her fragrance
Slaving for her aroma
Impatiently wanting to meet up
So I can decipher these feelings….
Will we be deeply in love, or cheaply in lust?
The more we chatted on A.O.L
The more my interest grew,
Rushing to the keyboard every day after school
And be stuck
Finger clutched on the letters
As if my fingertips were equipped with glue.
On Blackplanet she would always sign my guestbook
With heart shaped pictures
And she even put in her profile that
Her hobbies were talking to me and reading literature.
I figured, that she was the one
But I was only 17
So how could I know what “The One” was?
I just knew, because
I got to know her
She was my Pen Pal
In the form of instant messages and emails
I shared my life with her,
Broke everything down in detail.
Enough of the bullshit I told her
I get my license in August
I past the road test
But parallel parking was the hardest
So can we meet up right before school starts back?
My mom works 3rd shift
So on the weekends she likes to sleep in
We can meet halfway
Because I’m pretty good at driving on the Freeway
I even made a few mixtapes to stop the boredom of the long ride
Email me back, let me know what you decide.
It was only a few minutes but it seemed like a month
Before I finally got a response
It was a colorful background
With a bigger font than normal.
“Sure, I’m looking forward to meeting you
After pleasant introductions, we can do
Any and every thing you want to do.”
I will be wearing a red shirt with some tight jeans
The mall parking lot, say around 4:15.”
I was all smiles
I packed my bag and prepared to tackle these miles.
After a nervous ride, I finally arrived
Looking for a red shirt and pair of sexy legs covered
By tight jeans.
No one fit the description
So I went to a payphone to page her
On her pager.
After walking back to the car
A man pulled up next to me,
Rolled his window down
And said
“You’re not from around here, you seem lost.”
“Yea, I was looking for a friend.”
“A friend you say? Red shirt and tight jeans. Look at the time, it’s 4:15”
I wanted to kick,
Scream
Cry,
Fight,
Run,
Put the pedal to the metal and speed off,
I wanted to be awaken from this nightmare
But I was frozen with disbelief
Blurred vision due to the tears forming
Heart beating in an unnatural rhythm
Beads of sweat forming on my forehead
“You don’t look happy to see me” he stated with a smile
“I’ve been waiting on this moment for a while.”
I started the ignition,
Put the car in drive
And sped off
Feeling like an idiot
For believing that she was the girl of my dreams
When in reality
She wasn’t a she
She was a HE!
All Damn, for the past few months I’ve been getting close to a man
Telling him my most intimate secrets,
Talking dirty to someone
Who has a penis
I disgust myself
Traumatized because of social networking
I may need some professional help.
All Damn!!!
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