in praise of the ephemeral
it doesn't have to last forever
after all, it's all just bits and bytes
tiny spinning shadows of energy in space
vanishing as soon as you look too closely
not even really there
it used to be made of solid stuff
to last for years, to pass on to your children
and their children
but we're not sure any more
if Schrödinger even had a cat
or any of that
it used to be hard to do
take ages to perfect your craft
travel far to get the perfect raw materials
kill the goose that made the perfect quill
spend years getting it right
for the future
but that's all behind us
now it's all much easier
3d print your dreams in plastic
photoshop your way to a better body
blog your thoughts for nobody to hear
like and share a lolcat
tweet me me meme
your digital future won't last
other futures will take its place
you have the right to be forgotten
and you will retain it
against your will
nothing's built to last
zeroes two ones and back again
flashes of light on a screen
wandering ephemeral thoughts
flavour of the nanosecond
this is not a poem
and that's just fine
because it's all
just
an
idea
