Acknowledgements (Exhale Blog Hop)
In the beginning,
I tapped a
small
red
heart
with precision
like a
beat.
I meant
what I said
when I said
I liked it.
But time has scrolled on by.
The dopamine hits
dull the meaning
and my view.
My eyes are glassy
and my finger moves fast:
double tap, up
double tap, up
double tap, up
double tap, up
—a careless beat.
A deluge of influence
and advertisement disguised
as surprise and delight,
and I find none.
And with my eyes
down, double tap
down, double tap
down, double tap
down, double tap
My scroll merely
acknowledges
what my heart might
have liked
—might have loved.
This month’s theme for the Exhale blog hop is “Acknowledgements.” Confession: I love to read the acknowledgements in a book. The writer in me geeks out about the way this “bonus” section mirrors (or doesn’t) the style and tone of the book, and the “connector” in me loves to see what an author values enough to include in those pages. I never skip them.
But as I thought about this prompt, something else came to mind–the way my “double tap” on Instagram is no longer an indication of actual affection, gratitude, or appreciation, but merely an indication that, “I saw this.” I’m acknowledging someone’s post as I scroll past it (usually quickly and without much thought, I admit). And when this casual acknowledging and lack of attentiveness spills over into the rest of life, well, that’s a problem.
This has been on my mind a lot over the past few weeks, as I begin to sense again the need to recalibrate my phone habits. So, here I am, trying my hand at poetry again for the first time since college!
This post was written as part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to read the next post in this series, "Acknowledgments."