Typewriter Rodeo: Post-Midnight Internet Report

Each week, the Standard reaches out to Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo for a custom poem on Texas topics.

By David FruchterSeptember 15, 2017 3:26 pm,

We’ve all wandered down wormholes or rabbit trails while surfing the Internet. Sometimes, the surprises are delightful. Sometimes, not so much.

Past-Midnight Internet Report

like a flickering light

in the corner

of my vision

 

that first puppy video

catches me

 

in this one, they’re just

running into things

over and over

 

i feel for them

 

then they’re sitting on cats

hilariously unmoved

by the experience

 

but the sidebar opens

a pandora’s box

of bullying videos

 

a quick hit

of rough justice,

delivered without context

 

and now i’m in deep

 

a short step leads

to various stripes of interaction

between police

and other people

 

the roles of victim, persecutor

righteous and evil

interchangeable

and oft exchanged

 

and that sick feeling grows

in my belly

 

finally exhausted eyes

see hands close the machine

Produced by Laura Rice and Leah Scarpelli.