Ode To Our Phones

Natasha Haas

December 26, 2023

#!/bin/bash

function humanConnectivity {

echo “O’ great communicator.

Internet of things, 

countless fiber rings

binding users together. 

What permissions are needed, which access point leads to our godhead?

Read, write, execute. 

Ctrl, Alt, Delete.

Esc. Esc. IDE?

Do While loop…

What logic, what command would render us as whole human beings?

Debug human errors? #Warning sometimes i≠i

Nesting Automata theory.

Self-acting, willed, moving

human algorithm ciphers?

What language works best to text, what code do I need to know you?

Tapping black screens

Viral data streaming

.JPEG .TIFF .PNG

Bits, bytes, strings.

Which form banishes empty? iPhone, Android, Pixel, fucking BlackBerry?

Isolated human beings

Unplugged from reality

Boundless cellphone technology

Roaming for meaning."

Which carrier interconnects? GSM CDMA. Give me the SIM. That chime. That 5G LTE.

if [$you = $me]

then

echo "Hello. I am alone too."

else

echo "How do I join you?"

fi

Natasha Haas has lived in South Texas for over twenty years and calls the Matagorda area home. She is a sophomore at UTSA with a concentration in Professional and Creative Writing. She has one poem published, “The Gnawing Empty” in the Windward Review Volume 20, 2022: Beginnings and Endings.