When I tire of the screen’s glow,
the glazed scroll past serum-
smoothed faces, an #ad for
Metabolism Super Powder,
sAvAgE CLapBaCks, front-
facing videos from parked cars
(“Hi, everyone!”), the ramp-up
to the album release, “Suggested
for You” accounts like
living_with_many_chihuahuas,
a recipe for Green Shakshuka, ways
to forgive your past self, searches
for “best humidifier,” “13-month
sleep regression,” “what it means
when a friend won’t text back,”
and the reflexive return to my
own profile, the self-regarding
“hello” that Annie Dillard says
wastes most of our energy,
I close all the apps, let
my whirring brain whir down,
look up and out the window.
Today, there’s a dull grey cast
to the afternoon, and my neighbor
across the street is rolling
an old refrigerator to the curb.
It’s not trash pickup day but
it’s the dawn of a new year,
and why keep living with
what’s not working?