Throttling the Digital

Throttling the Digital
by Gideon Burton

When I consider how my life is spent
in tasks and topics no one ever guessed
(and no one now can really circumvent)--
I wonder if I'm cursed or if I'm blessed.
Displays of liquid light whose flowing rush
of images and words confound my eyes,
perplex my time and vex me with their crush
of wonders mixed with much that I despise.
If it were simply simple to unplug
(and doubtless this could serve a healthy turn),
but printed paper's champions are too smug,
to think the factory's better when it's burned.
     No doubt to throttle digits is an art.
     So I will pause, reflect, revise, restart.

Photo: flickr - Filin Ilia

Too Much Information

Too Much Information
by Gideon Burton

So many books, so many years immersed
within their labyrinths of inky thought.
So much remains unread. Perhaps I'm cursed
to know I haven't read all that I ought.
So many movies, years of hours passed
in front of dancing screens both large and small.
So many yet to see. They come so fast--
of just the best, I'd never catch them all.
So many sites and blogs, the data rush
of updates, feeds, of music, pictures, more,
surrounding me like hosts of locusts, slush
and slag and shiny things sprayed out like spores.
     Deluged, I cannot skim or surf or think.
     I want to thirst again before I drink.
  

Photo: flickr - Philippe Put