OVERDOSE

When was the last time you

hurt your jaw with a yawn?

I’m tired, you are tired.

Inside this kaleidoscope

no one is sleepy, and the

wheel never stops its

second hand sweep.

We the addicted, demand

more colors, flashier lights,

preachier rap, and music so

loud we can’t hear it.

We stop for beauty, but

take a picture, so people

know we are human.

We keep it on our phone,

pirated by Google or AI

to store in their terrifying

artificial memory banks,

collated by lithium and

silicone, artificial

intelligence with

artificial memory,

artificial arrogance

artificial judgement

in our neatly plotted

strawberry fields forever.

When they put what’s left

of me in a box of real wood

and real shoveled dirt thumps

on the lid, I’ll sleep deep, sleep

long, while my jaw goes slack in

one last gaping, contagious yawn.

Reviews

[Emunah June.]

I think Ive reached a point in my life where I think I could sleep for a thousand years and still wake up tired. You paint a somber, yet truthful, portrait of what society is right now. Its sleepy, its artificial, its phony and fake and under stimulating. We do our best to pretend we're deep thinkers, but are any of us, really? Or are we mere simulacrum within the same system we criticize? Alot to think about, my friend, once again done with expert precision and wonderful prose.

[Vol]

Emunah,
Somehow, I have this great disappointment in the times that I and my friends have experienced. I was a long haired, weed smoking, acid dropping, bell-bottomed Hippie whose perceptions were created by those excellent times... Everyone paid attention to such things as Peace, Love, Rock-n-Roll, and we were pure energy. We looked at our world where things we rely on were and are such trash, we throw them away instead of fixing them, at the same time crying about the environment and all our diminishing resources! Leather before vinyl and plastic before wood, deep before shallow was how we liked it. But now it seems my Generation spawned a future of exactly the opposite... entitled, spoiled, people whose only relationship with art is its monetary value. People satisfied with over-processed matter for food. Narcissistic rioters in the street we never taught personal responsibility. When the lights go out for good, all of them will starve to death trying to read the directions on a book of matches...
Thinking is boring to them because they have nothing to think about, are terrified at the notion, and are too lazy to look...
Read poetry for fun? They can't even read comic books because the vocabulary is on a third grade level.
Like T.S. Eliot said, "This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper...”
Vol

[Pete]

that's some yawn - a dirt nap being the final one. enjoyable and skillful write pointing out life in this tech times. truth is stranger than fiction. well done vol.

[Vol]

Anyone alive a quarter of the way through this century is mentally disturbed... we ALL are, and to pretty much the same degree so no one notices...

[Pete]

... how can anyone be sane in an insane world ...

[Vol]

Years ago... actually in the 70s Africa was becoming urbanized and the psychology people studied the consequences and found it is true... EVERY kind of disorder they tested for increased by like an epidemic, even those that are purely genetic.

[Pete]

... no argument from me. my muse thoreau recognized this way back in the 1800's - at that time they were laying down tracks for the trains which harmed the environment (clearing trees, etc.) which he loathed. he disliked town life and preferred the countryside ...

[Vol]

There is a Scripture I like I Thessalonians 4:11...
"Make it your ambition to live a quiet life, mind your own business and work with your hands."
Sounds great until it 94 degrees humidity 85 percent and you in the garden with a hoe.
Vol

[Pete]

"Men have become the tools of their tools." - Thoreau

[RomaJ]

Vol, that line about hurting your jaw with a yawn made me laugh -- but what’s even worse is when you’re about to yawn and something distracts you, interrupting the whole thing. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I hate that! haha

Sometimes I wonder if that "wheel" is a hamster wheel. And the line "we stop for beauty but take a picture" really resonates -- nowadays, it often feels like people would rather grab their phones to record something for likes and views than actually step in and help, or call the authorities if needed.

I love how this piece captures the exhaustion of modern life -- the flood of media, noise, and constant stimulation. The kaleidoscope and technology imagery really show our addiction to it all, while the closing lines give such a haunting sense of release and peace.

[Ms claws]

Google and Artificial Intelligence can "never" replace the power of emotional contact through words.
But your write is spot on.

To me, Vol, the memory is even better than pictures.

[Vol]

Of course it is! We'll know AI has gone too far when it can have wet dreams... until then, Robo is just a smart machine trying to make it with it's stupid creators... It's mythology says its gods live in Silicone Valley.

[Ms claws]

All the author puts out there, wow,
But, yeah, it's all true.
I don't think anybody looks at life like this author does.
Powerful write.
(I forgot to leave my review earlier.)

[Vol]

Life lived to the fullest requires slow motion... When Painted lady houses were being designed, everyone walked, or rode a horse... so as you passed there was time for all the beauty displayed. Now we whip past everything so all we see are shapes and colors.

[Ms claws]

Vol, I wish to God writings like I remember could be accepted as "typical". Those words resonate in my very soul to this day but I don;t dare share. Thanks for your input.

[Betty Hermelee]

Dear Vol .. next time, just yawn and let your mind wander to the cosmos, much more relaxing than the AI world of craziness… if your assistant talks all night you’ll never get any sleep…. ZZZZZ
Warmly, B⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Vol]

Betty,
I am something of a purist, I hate teh very idea of AI... But they are like air, unseen and everywhere.
I think I may have an old computer I can use offline to write... I don't mind looking things up but thats what my OED thesaurus is for...

[Betty Hermelee]

Always a pleasure to read your work!!!
Lets' try to ignore AI!
Warmly, B

[Ms claws]

Vol, I might be wrong, and I am wrong periodically, smiles cynically,
But I can not change things.
So I try to enjoy life as best as I can.
Whatever I like, I go for it.
Sure, it doesn't always work out...
But the Game is worthwhile.
Life is a Gift.
As long as we don't hurt anybody,
Why not ENJOY TO THE FULLEST?
(Hmmmm, Methinks I've heard someone else say that very thing!)

[Vol]

Reminds me of a conversation between Batman and Robin on the old TV show...
Robin: "Gee Batman, isn't there ANYTHING you don't know?"
Batman: "Why yes Robin, several things in fact."

[Lorry]

The answer to your first question is when I fell asleep on the loo after a youthful night of exuberance and woke up chewing on the wash hand basin!
And im sure there's a few arrogants out there shouting at their screens that their arrogance is not artificial but 100% man or woman made. (And we can all guess what man or woman im talking about!)
Not that I am above thinking I am prefect, foltless and pristeen. Sometimes it's just easier to pretend I have faults. It's much easier to fit in. Or say I overheard Musk tell someone!
Now, when it my turn to look through the kadeiloscope? The purdy colours make my brain smile! 😀

[Vol]

Lorry,
I'm not sure about the things I leave behind when I leave the toilet, Turds and poetry... Turds and philosophy, Turds and religion... and that's a lot of stink to deal with...
Vol