The monitor nearly wept when you switched it on.
No one will rescue the blender from your drunken grip.
You lack compassion for gasoline and the car
is pounded by your unnatural desires.
With reluctance the lamp casts an empty
light beside the bed.
That iPod delights in your daily suffering: the missed appointment,
the paper cut, the lost pet.
Each morning when you wake up the coffee maker snickers
at your hair.
If a factory moved next door would you riot? The assembly
floor: another shameful secret you could not live without.
When the cable box fails do you whisper consolation? Stroke
it with the palm of your hand?
Though it rarely complains, you have no empathy for the washing machine.
You never think about that modem, dismembered, dumped
in some field on the globe’s other side.
The lawn mower bides its time, fantasizing about the day your foot slips.
11 responses so far ↓
Deb // May 25, 2009 at 4:41 pm |
Wow, Nathan. I’m gripped in fascination, fury, fear. And sympathy.
nathan // May 26, 2009 at 5:03 am |
Now I guess you can see why I’m so creeped out around the house. But, yes, sympathy too. I mean, I’m glad we have washing machines, with all the horror that implies, or maybe I should rather say I wish I knew of a better way. I’m going to look into that. There must be a better way. As it is we’re at war aren’t we? (us and our machines)
Dana // May 27, 2009 at 5:32 am |
What is that header?
nathan // May 27, 2009 at 11:58 am |
I changed it to this one.
Deb // May 28, 2009 at 3:29 pm |
We are at war with them. Yes. This idea would be a fantastic series. Did you read Modern Life by Matthea Harvey? If not, you might like it, I think.
I like this header, too. But every time I say that it changes, so I am afraid to say it. Haha.
nathan // May 28, 2009 at 6:59 pm |
No, as with so many books, I’ve never read that one. Thanks for the suggestion.
As for the header, I think I finally like this one (but it might be a little dark).
cocoyea // June 2, 2009 at 11:20 pm |
Love the dark humor in this piece. So well thought out. It’s perfect.
nathan // June 3, 2009 at 5:27 pm |
I’m glad you saw the humor in it, Cocoyea. Thanks for reading.
holly d // June 4, 2009 at 10:12 pm |
yes! I have a friend who had her foot cut half off by a lawnmower when she was just a kid…she makes all kinds of jokes about it! I do see us struggling with the mechanical, technological, robotical world…it’s very much a paradox of living the good life with forgetting about life…
nathan // June 5, 2009 at 12:41 pm |
Wow, when I was in high school I had a friend who was injured by a lawn mower. They’re terrible things.
It’s interesting how much of our emotional stability relies on the uninterrupted functioning of machines small and large.
Links list « Tejana Poet // June 5, 2009 at 3:53 pm |
[...] poem on the dumping of used technology: The Television Watches You With Contempt. Read also That Quarter by Nathan [...]