Poem: December 9, 2022

Lost and Found

If it’s true that in this world

of cell phones, and satellites, and GPS,

of FInd My iPhone and Find My Friends, 

location services,

virtual assistants, 

and facial recognition,

If it’s true nothing can be truly lost,

then it is true as well that nothing can be found,

Or newly found- no new

discovery around the bend, no new

friend or beautiful stone, or missing piece

that hasn’t already been viewed on YouTube

at least a few times, 

no place one could find oneself 

that Google hasn’t mapped

or that passing spy cams can’t access– 

the eyes that capture, the eyes that trap.

Searching is not the searching of the past.

Clicking fingers, scrolling screens focus, track.

And finding lacks a certain pleasure, 

The treasure of found objects

And unexpected art. 

Imagine what we’ve lost.