The Great Blue Cry

[I had fun writing this entry for a poetry contest this week]

The Great Blue Cry

(or The Day the Internet Came to an End)

The day the Internet came to an end,

and all the cell phones fell into puddles

The day the TV sets

mades bets:

“Hey, who can play dead the longest?”

The day all the video games 

ran out of levels 

and texting thumbs

to hitchhiking were restored

   

The day a lone Googler 

Googled “Gone” 

and every gadget and gizmo with a  

suck-em-in-screen-oh-ignore-the whole-worldo

Simply Vanished

in a flash,

in big and little puffs of smoke,

leaving hands empty,

open wide

and the air alive,

buzzing with static

It was on that magical day,

Johnny Doughboy and Jane Stiflebrain

sat staring at the charred, black spot on the floor,

a smokey, sulphuric place

where only seconds before

a gurgling, growling sound erupted, 

the floor opened wide

and as for their iMac,

a sinkhole sucked it 

The ground healed up quick,

fresh carpet even sprouted

but Johnny and Jane   

were amiss, 

even stunted

“What is life without a flashing screen?” 

Johnny said blankly to Jane

“I would tell you if I could look it up,”

Jane replied, 

her eyes, her face, her brain

as plain

as her name

And so Johnny and Jane sat frozen 

for many days and many years,

their eyes zeroed in on the spot that swallowed their iMac,

hoping against hope it would one day come back

For food, they survived 

on cheese curls and Ding Dongs

For talk, they exchanged the hums and beeps and whistles 

of extinct video game songs

Their skin from the snacks emitted a pale, orange glow 

and tossed candy wrappers stuck to their burgeoning bellies

like tinsel on a tree

But they beeped and they hummed busily,

assuming they were happy,

as happy 

as happy can be

But then one day,

something blue crossed the corner of Johnny’s eye

It was on the other side of the window — 

something vast, wide and splotched with wisps

as white as cotton or snow drifts 

(if he could remember them)

Jane saw it too 

Astounded, they turned their gaze,

searching for words,

finding only a haze

of beeps and whistles

Stuttering, staring and, finally, with tears streaming

Jane called out, 

“Cry!” 

“The blue,I remember

the blue is called,

“Cry!”

“Yes, you’re right,” Johnny replied 

with words instead of whistles

He ran to the window 

He opened it wide

“I remember the Cry, 

the beautiful, blue Cry

Now stand by my side, he said,

so we can look at it forever

And drying their tears,

they did.

-- Sarah Johnson