Curmudgeoning

Get off my lawn!

But that's not really the case.

I hate lawns and grass and the fable of suburbanism.

Rip it all out and let things grow.

It's a better way to be interesting than dancing on TikTok.

And by the way, Fuck your HOA too.

My bitch is stronger than that.

Like the force in Vader (or Anakin, whatever you prefer).

Having to find your way to another state with a Road Atlas,

And no cell phone. And pay phones were a lifeline.

You call your friend from deep Philadelphia.

And are advised to put your foot against the door.

Just in case.

Everything was an adventure and unpredictable.

A thousand things could go wrong.

And there you were, in a shitty car, on a Canadian highway

(remember when we could just drive to Canada?)

Truckers roll by at a thousand miles an hour.

While snow comes down as your wipers leave streaks.

Even death wouldn't help.

It'd be days (or weeks or months) before someone knew

The landline would ring at 3 a.m.

At that hour, my mother always asked. . .

Who died?

We lost something

With all of the information in our pocket

I'm not begrudging access to knowledge

But the unknown is where we seek

The internet doesn't cover everything

There are worlds that we don't know.

Take a moment to disconnect

Just walk around the block

And absorb all that you see

Don't post it for likes

Don't share it for popularity

Look around and enjoy the plane we are given

Just for the sake of living on this plane

I wish you all

Some unpredictability