No Longer in the Present, for dVerse Poets, June 14, 2023

26 Replies

jdb photo

No Longer in the Present

In chairs around the tables of our favorite cafe,
our attention to each other has come to be passé
We are not present here and now. We’re all in other places
as we stare at  our tiny screens, caught up in far off faces.

For dVerse Poets Quadrille Challenge, the prompt was  “present.” HERE is Lillian’s challenge.

26 thoughts on “No Longer in the Present, for dVerse Poets, June 14, 2023”

  1. lillian's avatarlillian

    ohhhhhh this is sadly so true. And how sad when one is in a restaurant or cafe and you see a family with children and rather than all talking and laughing together, everyone (including the children) have their faces in their phones.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      But you are not at a table with your friends or family writing this. I was just at a party with sixty plus people celebrating the confirmation of two girls in the same extended family… and both girls being celebrated were sitting at a table for the first half hour looking at their phones.

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      1. Martha Kennedy's avatarMartha Kennedy

        That true. I’m not. But the whole phone thing? That’s what happened last time my neighbors and I went for a walk out in nature. One of them was on her phone most of the time looking for photos of some place in Michigan. When we go out to lunch, their phones are on the table beside them. Last time we had a tea party, one of them had to take a call but it was a call that could have waited. We’re all over 70, so it’s not just young people.

        Not long ago driving home from the Refuge I passed a very overweight teenager girl doing the right thing, going for a walk, her head was bent down to look at her phone as she walked — shuffled along, really. Later I saw a guy mowing his lawn — power mower — he’s looking at his phone while he mows. Then two kids cross the street on skateboards, looking at their phones.

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          1. Martha Kennedy's avatarMartha Kennedy

            Terrifying — I watched a guy drive down my street doing the same thing, his head turned away from the windshield. I’m done, Judy. I am just done living in this bizarre alien reality. I might be an introvert but I LIKE 3 dimensional people. They’re warm, unpredictable, interactive, just great. I wish there were more in my life. I’ve visited FB a few times in this interval and it’s insipid, hostile, or commercial most of the time — with exceptions.

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            1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

              Have you ever been to Mexico, Martha? You should come visit. In spite of the motorcycles and kids with phones, family values are still so strong. The huge family party I went to was so much fun. Just to watch, and photograph, although I had a lot of conversations, as well. I love it here. I know you love it where you are…not pushing you to move. But you’d be welcome to visit.

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            2. Martha Kennedy's avatarMartha Kennedy

              I love Mexico though I’ve only been in towns close to the border. For a while when I was very small my dad was doing research in Chihuahua and we went, too. I spoke Spanish when I was very small. Worried my mom. Some of the best classes I taught were in San Ysidro to Mexicans who came across after work to learn English. I miss that culture here very much. It IS here but the white/brown divide is sinister.

              I had an article coming up to write about a Hispanic settlement that barely survives now. It began right after the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. I don’t know much about that history and it’s cool to learn. People came up and left, came up and left from New Mexico. Their Spanish is what the Spaniards came up with in the 1500s. I can barely understand it.

              The only friends I left behind in CA were Mexican.

              I love that you invited me! Thank you! ❤️ I wish! I don’t have money to travel anywhere which is frustrating but there it is. I thought of moving to Rosarito or Ensenada when I retired, but after living in the mountains outside San Diego for so long, I knew I am a mountain person and I wanted snow. I do love it here, but I miss Mexican culture very very much.

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          1. Marilyn Armstrong's avatarMarilyn Armstrong

            I asked my granddaughter to explain it when she and her friends were doing it (they are entirely OVER it by now, of course). She shrugged. She said it was easier than talking. Safer.

            When did conversation become dangerous?

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            2. Marilyn Armstrong's avatarMarilyn Armstrong

              I believe that falls into the category of “generational differences.” I didn’t understand it when I saw it. Garry and I used to wonder how they would ever learn to have conversations. And I’m not sure they ever DID learn to talk to each other, even though they’ve moved on from phone to work.

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