A moment.

These days it's hard to have one
without feeling the need to share
every one with everyone.

Update it
       Tweet it
               Insta- it
                    'til we bleed.

How does this look?
         Who should we tag?
                 Where should we ping?

We've become factory workers
tasked with packaging our most worthy moments.

Keeping the extreme -
the happy
       the sad
             the adventurous.

The feel-good
       the funny
             the foodie -
throwing out the rest.

Not for me.
Not for you.
But for them - the carefully-chosen consumers of our lives?

What product are we making anyways?
Are our efforts in vain?
Mere distractions to their moments, ironic as that may be?

Feeding their urge to take in all things
except the one
                  the moment
                        right in front of them.

Traditions go on.
         Loved ones love.
                    Happy Birthdays are sung
but not without our consumers in mind.

Oh God.

Take me back to untangled times
when we trusted the moment to hold its own
without craving affirmations from our social drones.

Efff it.  Let's tuck it
instead, safe inside the sweet taste of our memories.

Let's learn to tell stories again.

Only after we've waited
pensively
               patiently
until the moment's had its chance
to swirl
          to simmer
                       to work out the kinks.

Embellish details if we wish,
but after-the-fact.

Pass reflections from our eyes again,
yours straight into mine.

Freeze our news feeds.
Free us from selfies.

Give us this moment in its purest form again.
Pre-SocialMedia Times.

© Candice Reineke 2014