We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage / And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, / We Poets of the proud old lineage / Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ... (James Elroy Flecker)

11.4.18

Facing Up to Being Brought to Book


Poetry month, day 11 (2)



Facing Up to Being Brought to Book

Brick-a-brack in old digital store-rooms
seemed innocent when we stashed it, but now
it matters who sees it. Who is it dooms
to permanence our old records, and how
were we to guess they would? Now, what a row
erupts across the ether! Cyber-space
has ceased being our cosy home, our safe place.
It’s full of attics, cellars, safes and vaults
to which all have unauthorised access, 
and our foibles morph into major faults.


I decided to write two poems for day 11, because I realised belatedly that choosing an old poem for the Tuesday platform yesterday defeated the purpose of creating a new poem every day this month, so I needed another one. Yes, it's another dizain. And I'm still trying to make a connection to Maya Angelou's "long-ago rooms" as virtual store-rooms for old data.

9 comments:

  1. Wow! This is so much on point, Rosemary! One has to be exceedingly careful what one stores in clouds in the internet ether.. attics and boxes seem a safer bet when it comes to privacy in the world we are living in.

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  2. How true this could be, in this age of cyber clouds and such. And have we told anyone it's all there? Accidents happen. I identify with your write today and I especially like
    "Who is it dooms to permanence our old records, and how were we to guess they would?"
    Who indeed? :-)

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  3. I agree cyberspace is a place where literally anything can happen. Beautifully penned.

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  4. our foibles morph into major faults - yes, that is true - in today's age it is certainly hard to bury the past and so easy to judge...

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  5. Oh, very good! I never thought of that angle.

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  6. Don't you miss being naive about the internet?

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  7. I think of that, sometimes, people sifting through my things when I am gone.....

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  8. How appropo, considering Facebook's current state of affairs! An excellent follow-up, Rosemary! :)

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