Megan Gileza

We live in boxes

and between the bounds of too-straight lines

where people on their phones stand

with their heads down and shoulders rounded over

thumbs moving rapidly

in an attempt to prove they are not bored or friendless

or both, either would be awful

because we all know the pain of standing alone

without something to do because we always

have to be doing something. Do it now

do it fast do it faster do it faster than that

it sometimes seems that speed is an end in itself.

We move from box to box as quickly as possible

because there are things that need doing in these boxes

and because there’s wifi in the boxes

and what on earth would we do without the internet

besides everything that doesn’t need the internet.

I know, I know does life even happen

if the internet doesn’t know about it?

But is life still happening when we stop

to let the internet know about it? Technically,

I guess. But then again “technically”

is how the real world works. The real world

that’s separate from the real world

that humans evolved hundreds of thousands of years for,

something we ignore. Instead, we try to control it—

to wrap it up in boxes—

in an effort to box up and rid ourselves of our own fears

and who can really blame us because let’s be real

everybody fears death and that world

is dangerous (survival of the fittest)

but the more we separate ourselves

the more dangerous it becomes to us—

people fear what they don’t know.

And we’re dangerous to it right back, worse probably

since we try to pretend we can manage the whole planet

(global warming overpopulation deforestation, it’s all under control)

but we can’t and we do it anyway

with our boxes and our technology and that’s scary

because most of us can’t even manage ourselves, I know I can’t

or stand alone in line without a cell phone

to keep us connected to the real world

that isn’t the real world at all.