Whatever happened to reading a book?
Whatever happened to reading a book?
Just sitting down and having a look
At words, just plain words, as they sit on a page
Is that now a thing of a bygone age?
I’ll listen to music, a nice song or two
Now where is that playlist? This one just won’t do
Oh, look…that hot artist has dropped a new single!
The video has Twitter feeds all a-tingle
Wait, what was I doing? Oh yes, I was reading
A concert is really not what I was needing
Go back to the words: make me cry, make me laugh!
I’ll start at the start, with the first paragraph
The font’s a bit boring, I think that I’ll change it
This menu right here will let me rearrange it
I’ll make it much bigger, no, smaller, no darker
I won’t need my glasses: take that, Dorothy Parker!
Wow, this is such fun: I feel like the Sheriff!
Curlicues out of town! I’ll go with sans serif!
Mwah hah hah! Now I’ll switch it and put white on black!
All you layout artists are under attack!
I’ll do it my way, I don’t care what you want!
I’m finally freed from the force of the font!
Those letters look cool…hey, don’t they make words?
I’ll make sure I read them…but first, Angry Birds!
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
June 29, 2012 at 4:06 pm |
Yeah, they’re called distractions. But I guess I like them because I do what is described above!
June 29, 2012 at 7:10 pm |
Thanks for writing, Pam!
I think single-tasking is unnatural. I don’t think a hunter gatherer would do very well if they concentrated some much on making a sharp rock that they didn’t hear the prey…or a predator.
June 29, 2012 at 5:49 pm |
Distractions abound, and I love this poem. Okay to share in on Facebook?
June 29, 2012 at 6:47 pm |
Thanks for writing, Jean!
I’m glad you liked it!
I’m fine with you linking to it, but I don’t think I could control the distribution very well if it got on Facebook. Quoting a couple of lines would fall under Fair Use, of course.
June 29, 2012 at 5:50 pm |
or it, not in…..as you say, what happened….?
June 29, 2012 at 11:45 pm |
I love your poem! I am a high school English teacher attempting to teach from my Kindle and move towards a Kindle classroom. I was wondering if I could quote your poem on my blog, as a whole is preferable, but if you would allow me to just quote the second stanza (I am doing a blog post on the different font and size options) or if you would rather a link.
June 30, 2012 at 12:24 am |
Thanks for writing, Meg!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! It was fun to write.
As I’m sure you understand, I have to be a little bit careful about not letting things go out everywhere.
I think it’s the third stanza you want to quote. I’m going to take a look at your blog, and the rights assignment is better done in e-mail (because it is considered more identifiable).
I’ll contact you separately and grant your use of that stanza in your blog (with a link) and permission to “perform” the entire poem in your classroom.
I’m really honored, and I’m intrigued by the idea of a “Kindle classroom”. I’ve written about that before…some schools have done that already.
July 14, 2012 at 2:02 pm |
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