Social Media Hegemony by Lynn Tait

October 21, 2022
Poem name: Social Media Hegemony Poet name: Lynn Tait Poem: Love bombed in all the wrong news feeds hacked identities forward messages: want you to share. You’ve got 24 hours to lip sync a storm – Tik tok, tik tok. Un-friend, block, delete. Scrolling rivers of posts meant to inspire, congratulations replaces kindness, the opinionated chastised, emails, texts ignored, tweet 280 characters of free speech or f-off, instagram photos reach the usual twenty-five, behind an unknown profile nightshade’s shadow dance – click it’s a mushy eggplant gif – no envy here, no Haha, Wow. It’s okay to suffer in cyberspace – all the memes say so; anything that matters melts away on empty links. Facebook heroes posting cats below caring emoticons, all those thumb ups waiting to be born. We’re pickled pink, and on that sour note, trolls corner the market on vinegar by the bin. Spreading the virus everyone’s searching for, if cornered the sense of false news and YouTube videos fills the airwaves – comments disabled. Emoji hearts show up at odd hours, way past their bedtime. I may know you beyond the keyboard, the avatar, so I’ve built a fort out of poetry books. Update myself lobbing lines, stanza and verse. Long notes composed for like/love responses; accused of leading an armchair life by friends, beyond-reproach-ethics favour the intellectual muscle behind the ‘right’ people thinking differently; different people speaking up – how dangerous is that? Social media hash tags itself – you’re it! There’s a new Eggplant King smelling up the internet. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Lynn Tait Previously published in High Shelf Press XXVIII 2021 (Oregon U.S.A.) Lynn Tait is a Toronto-born poet/photographer residing in Sarnia Ontario, land of the Aamjiwnaang First Nations. Her poems have been published in numerous journals including FreeFall, CV 2, Trinity Review, The Quarantine Review, Literary Review of Canada, Vallum, Wild Word and in over 100 anthologies world-wide. Her digital art and photography has graced the covers of 8 poetry books including Parkland Poet’s anthology for 2022. She is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society, Parkland Poets, American Academy of Poets, The League of Canadian Poets and Not-your-rodeo-poets. She signed a contract in 2021 with Guernica Editions for her poetry manuscript You Break It, You Buy It.