The day they came to take the phones away
Was a revealing one. Some threw their devices
Into hoppers happily, lobbing them high,
Watching them fall with a whoop. Others tried
To bury, cancel, download, go AWOL. All
Pointless. The signals were dying
And the servers had combusted. Myself?
Loved it, hoped all the long-ago winters might
Return to us, the looking-at-faces, the nothing-
To-do, the night in our horses’ manes,
The bright law of the morning. We’d be
Building a bridge into space as we were meant to,
Would laugh as we laughed once, like a river
Rising for no reason, scarcely contained –
For a few seconds fearsome, then drawing back,
Earth different, small stones rearranged.