A Poem for Sunday

Carol Ann Duffy, "Text"

Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry is immaculate, and “Text” likely stands as her best-known poem. I offer this poem for a few reasons. First, and most importantly, Sunday is a day for talking and for calling, not for texting. Second, I’ve been kicking around an idea in my head where the term “social distancing” is not something we should associate as originating with Covid, but with the rise of social media, which I very much took part in.

Most importantly, here is the work of Carol Ann Duffy:

Text
     by Carol Ann Duffy

I tend the mobile now
like an injured bird

We text, text, text
our significant words.

I re-read your first,
your second, your third,

look for your small xx,
feeling absurd.

The codes we send
arrive with a broken chord.

I try to picture your hands,
their image is blurred.

Nothing my thumbs press
will ever be heard.

Midjourney’s rending of “Text” with the full poem used as the prompt

If you want to talk contrast, this is Blue WIllow’s (another AI image generator) rendering of thr same prompt. Completely different output!

That’s it! Happy Sunday, everyone!