Recording on Soundcloud: click here
Don’t sit so near the telly dear
My mother used to say
It’s not good for your eyes I fear
They might go square some day
And little did I know
How right her warning was
There I sat, playing games
While my brain was washed
My eyebrows angled angrily
My forehead frumpled up
There was nothing that I wanted
But to win that special cup
Back then unacceptable
These days uncorrectable
Children swipe before they walk
They can tap before they talk
Almost all whose hands can hold em
Have machines there all the time
Always buzzing, beeping, drawing
Your attention with their chimes
Gradually the wiring
Inside your brain is changed
Secretly you’re always plugged
Into their little game
Before You can say “Tube”
You’ll be flying down the pipe
Falling down a rabbit hole
Faster than your fingers type
And you’re bothered by this habit
Yes you clearly have a gripe
But the groove is deep and hard
And the time is not quite ripe
Because before you stop you have
Just this one more little thing
And when you think you’re done
From your pocket comes a “Ding”
Are you aware of the way
That we’re hypnotised today
What we call the news is really
Just what fits in their old frame
And we believe what they say
Tuning in without delay
We complain, but in fact
We sit still playing their game
TV wants you squaring off
Who is wrong, who is right?
Everything becomes a battle
In this polarising light
Pick your corner, start the fight
Man vs Woman
Black vs White
Old vs Young
Cats vs Dogs
Red vs Blue
Human vs Nature
Me vs You
Every time they make divisions
And build yet another frame
Pick your side and an identity
Clicks onto your brain
“Hey you there! I’m a square
Simply put, squares are best
I am sturdy and unmovable
Come put me to the test
Circles can go roll off
Being smooth, ’n round, ’n shit
I don’t like their lack of corners
No, I don’t trust them one bit
I’m a square and I hate
Those with edges that aren’t straight
Take your curves that I berate
And go … self-procreate!”
Yet the truth and the solution
Are often not on either side
But hiding inside everything
Most intricately tied
If you’d think outside the box
And maybe even look around
You’d see that there is so much
Nuance to be found
You no longer need to fall for all your new wants
With that jig you’ll fall back into the old dance
Do you realise the spies
Staring into your square eyes
Do you see the puppeteers
Now at play behind your screen
Do you see the entities
Weaving false realities
Exploiting earth’s humanity
For their economic schemes
While tech wizards alchemise
Their concoctions of addiction
Many flavoured apps to quickly ease
Whatever your affliction
like
That longing lump of loneliness
The craving for connection
The boredom so banal
The resistance to reflection
The pressure to be pretty
The fact you feel so lost
That burnt out brain of yours
Do you see the hidden cost?
They’ve done such clever job
Pulling wool over your eyes
Where you thought you were a user
You’re a product in disguise
With a simple little trick
Capital commodifies
Every time you like or click
You teach them to advertise
So clever is this light-trap
This quicksand of invention
Your time trickles away
And you pay with your attention
For with every little problem
That computers take away
Comes the deep unconscious feeling
That we need them every day
That we need them every moment
That without we won’t survive
My dear friend, do not to forget
What it means to be ALIVE
For nature is your maker
And programmed you to be
In harmony with all that is
Aligned with unity
You’re the apple and you didn’t
Fall far from the tree
Light codes are a seed in you
Plant them within me
And I can’t tell you if it’s luck
Or by divine design
But everything we need
Is around us all the time
It’s only by a trick of the light
That we believe in this passing delight
Which leaves a man a hollow shell
Bound by the most draining spell
So break the chain
Get off the train
Take life into your hands again
And then you’ll rarely find the time
To keep your focus on that chime
That buzz, that fix
You know their tricks
You’ll leave your phone a derelict
No longer will your phone be I
Your truth appears before the lie
Your passion is your power cord
You’re present, and you hit record
You soak up all the joy and strife
Your eyes now awaken
The circle of life
By Kagiso Universalis
paratextmag.com 