Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Age of Vicarious Living

. . . And it suddenly struck me,
Sitting downstairs in the midnight hour--
Silence. . .
A sudden Shriek in the distance--
A train whining in the darkness,
Pushing along a predetermined route.
Silence. . .
A sudden epiphany shrieking through my mind--
It is all around me
--Surrounded--

De-
Tached. . .

Vicariously living on a shelf,
Within a screen,
Through a speaker. . .

Living someone else's lyrics,
Watching someone else's life,
Reading someone else's thoughts. . .

A consumer nation
Recycling originality--
[Repackaged]
Seemingly new,
Regrettably old.
We've sacrificed the best of us--
Mere convenience.
Comatose in a sheltered sphere,
Living Vicariously. . .

--Brett Hall
August 19, 2009

2 comments:

Jennette said...

Sweet.
When vision becomes nothing more than pixeled images and background noise is the new lullaby, it's time to push the off button.
Great writing! Keep it coming.

Mary P said...

When you are in the car with your grandmother and you can't hear her so you reach over to the radio to turn her up....you know it's time to take a break!

Also, I caught the tail end of a woman being interviewed on the radio yesterday talking about her book. She lives the first and third Monday of every month in total silence! I think that's kind of awesome.

Just like your writing.