Curiosity ~ Lucidity ~ Humanity
“Alexa, start my day.”
Everything at the tip of my voice.
Immediately, the kitchen lights turn on,
smooth jazz begins seeping through the speakers,
and a confident, informative voice reflects
on newsworthy events of the previous day.
Amid the familiar buzz of my routine,
a jarring note lingers in the background.
My two kids are in the adjoining room,
playing and giggling. Up to something.
Through the speakers: The president’s team is meeting with Russian officials...
I consider upgrading to a smarter coffee machine.
...two planes collide in Arizona, adding to the already several...
Roll out of bed to a perfect, warm latte.
...the ceasefire may be interrupted because of delays...
All the comforts, pre-programmed.
As the pancakes sizzle, I peek into the kids’ room.
“Daddy, look!” My four-year-old pilots a toy plane. One wing missing.
Its flight path predetermined by the voice in the next room.
My six-year-old banks left with a helicopter
and slices through the remaining wing.
As the toy plane spirals to the floor.
While technology drones, distracts,
connects, divides.
News blurs with nursery rhymes,
steel planes fall
as plastic ones play.
Coffee brews, headlines churn.
Their pure, unassuming laughter drowns out
the voice in the speaker.
Tragedy deflects off my attention
and absorbs into innocent ears,
as they play out disasters, unaware
that outside the world plays back,
shaping them before they even know to listen.
Bio-Fragment: Patrick G. Roland is a writer and educator living with cystic fibrosis. He enjoys exploring other people’s attics and basements, where most of his writing ideas are created and sometimes lost. Like most people, he writes about interpreting experiences, but his interpretations often lead to internal worlds clashing among a sea of questions. His writing reflects what comes out of that flood.