Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Volume III: "Sideways Kiss"

People have changed over the last decade.  Of course they always do, always have and will, but this time it's discernible to me and you, which is what makes it relevant.  The changes feel urgent - the downward gazes, the blue glow, the painful fingers, the waning confidence, the lack of immunity, the dullness in the eyes, the chemical haze.

Their attention has been funneled into another dimension, one so carefully and corporately fabricated as to reel you in instantly once its hook is in you.  The violence of the digital age is apparent in things like video games whose purpose is to simulate the mass murder of prostitutes, soldiers, and other innocents.  It is just as evident, however, in the eyes of the forlorn, those lost with and without technology in the palms of their hands.  For if you succumb to the age of re-connection and let your previous lives fade with the beauty of the analogue, then you will find yourself just as alienated as those with paper novels in their hands and dirt under their fingernails.  They can't get in touch with anybody in person, and you can't tear your eyes off of a tiny space between your hands.

Are you in this world, or are you in your mind alone?

Can you be touched, or loved?


Do you exist?