I’ve never even considered posting a poem on the PETAL blog, but I was asked a few months ago to write a poem about facebook, which I resisted for quite some time, partly because I didn’t feel it was a suitable topic for a serious poem and I didn’t want to put much effort into a silly poem.
However, when I was walking to class yesterday, I was pondering the objections that many faculty have to facebook, that it can be too personal and that it is difficult to preserve a veneer of professionalism in such an environment. Somehow that led me to the following poem. I’m not going to claim that it is a particularly good poem, but it does make some important claims. And I suppose it has its poetic moments, as well.
i
facebook time flows from
busily futile fingers
words cast into void
all in a place where
people can burn hours they
didn’t know they had
it gives us a sense
of interconnectedness
in isolation
immersion in streams
of seeming meaninglessness
gives us connections
filling emptiness
the vicariousness of
empty idleness
ii
facebook is where old
friends and new appear out of
virtual nowhere
anyone can be
your facebook friend just two clicks
your request their yes
from famous writers
to leaders in your field to
the homecoming queen
too popular then
but now with years wisdom pounds
she wants to be friends
flowing signifieds
reflecting meaninglessness
providing meaning
iii
in facebook students
will respond to what you say
learn you are human
some have been afraid
facebook will blur boundaries seem
unprofessional
but what is this you
you are trying to project
other than not you
what is teaching but
helping them to be like you
who you really are
forget the façades
of professionalism
grant unfiltered you
Facebook does all those things and is a wonderful place in many ways, but but don’t forget it’s also big business, making money off our personal data from advertising and creating market research databases.