Undressing the Ghost of the Information Technology Future

Undressing the Ghost of the Information Technology Future

 

 

 

snowy blisters,

sledding downward

reindeer games, intriguing night

darkness and burglary of meaning

 

the star fades,

the tree isn't real

it's a plastic, electronic Bethlehem

and the three men are no longer wise

 

infected with Wikipedia countenance

they bear gifts of fool's gold

little sense

 

and that third thing no one can spell correctly

because dictionaries are a thing of the past

like one of the three ghosts

 

i want to smell the pines again,

feel my fingers chip away under thin gloves

i want to grasp a quill

and write like Dickinson

or that Dickens chap

as the carolers sing at my door

 

and i want the Raven to go home

to his own nest and share presents

with his children

 

leaving me to write of Christmas future

like it was in Christmas past

 

i want to find my way back to where the manger used to lie

the stillness of the child

the silence of the cry

 

unadorned shepherds watching close by

the spirit finally resting

hands and arms touching, embracing

 

i want to go back

unwrap how it used to be

feel it again

from up close

 

put a real star on top of the tree

and be guided once again

by the simplicity of touch

of warmth

 

of belief

in something that seemed to matter once.

 

 

erin-cilberto

12/24/16

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Good job showing the details of a holiday long ago too commercialized for me & also with many technological aspects you've woven in with the plastic nativity scene. I also love hearing about the things you long for in an authentic Christmas scene . . . *sigh!*

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, barleygirl...

j.

[Relic]

The ghost of Christmas future has traded in his simpleness and religion for technology that's for sure.

I think we--being under its spell--are changing in a way that the Walton's would never understand or recognize. Now that I'm older, there are no more toys under the tree, only news on my laptop.

Life now is a trade-off between the pen and the keys. Those days of our youth when the excitement of Christmas and all it stands for are a bit faded. There are houses where the pine trees used to stand; I-phones have replaced rotary dial phones, and the nativity scene has probably been banned.

Yes, things have changed, some for the better, some for worse.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful words, Relic...

j.

[Ken Simm.]

Oh did this hit notes! I usually use it as a reaction to excellence when I find myself nodding all the way through. I do this less as I get older but here so many things conspired (if that is the right word) to show me what true atmospheres are. Somethings were better before. I don't care what they say.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i don't either, Ken...i think lots of things were better then, than they are now.

thank you for your words,
j.

[Ken Simm.]

I did once hear that nostalgia ain't what it used to be ,however.

[Einstein Noodle]

there are a lot of "us" out here jacob ;) its not dead yet; but the world of our children and their's is so changed and changing ... when i think of how fast it can all be taken away .. i worry that the "next" generation will be so bewildered they may parish along with the mouse and smart phones .. a fine thing to remember the simplicity and warmth .. crazy title sir!
E.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, E.

j.

[Valentine]

Sad but awesomely true in parts. No more Jesus in schools, no more Christmas on government property,
neighbors even now and then complain of the lights on a neighbors house.. Wish we could celebrate like we did when younger too. Thanks Jacob. Valentine

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for understanding, Kathie...

j.

[Beccy]

Brilliantly observation of how it was and how it is today.

The whole poem is so evocative; the fourth and fifth stanza, pure genius.

Beccy.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Beccy...

j.

[Bacchus]

Stunning. Love future and past line. And the warmth leading us once again.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Bacchus.

j.