Our fourth installment of Anti-Genre is montage poem inspired by Langston Hughes’  Montage of a Dream Deferred. James Quinn’s “Montage of Life in a Screen” reflects on–and literally enacts–our daily obsessions with social media.  

 

Adequate Morning

Fumbling
Fumbling
Fumbling
Searching for a cell phone
Fumbling
Fumbling
Fumbling
Searing for a cell phone
Fumbling
Fumbling
Fumbling
Let me disconnect this

Eyes burn from a bright screen
All sound immediately cut off
No more fumbling
Burning eyes to the screen

Scrolling

Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh

SpongeBob memes bring a slight chuckle
Share it to your wall

Reads an article about the top 10 movies of 2017
Share it with a friend

Finds an article on the works of Harlan Ellison
Share it with yourself

Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh

Kendrick’s new music video
Love it
Cute picture of Bae
Love it
Spiteful, personal, and mean-spirited comment that has nothing to do with me
Laugh at it
Trump’s political decisions
Ignore it
Derogating and embarrassing Trump meme
Laugh at it
Story of an officer misusing their power
Angry face
Trump’s political decisions
Ignore it
A status about a lost loved one
Sad face

Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Scroll through, refresh
Rest

 

Motivation Speech

Setting: Bed
If I do it now, I won’t have to later
If I do it now, I won’t have to later
If I do it now, I won’t have to later
If I do it now, I won’t have to later
Don’t be a procrastinator
Start the day off right, and get started on your to do list
You can scroll through Facebook later when you’re done
You need to do this
Scroll through, refresh

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      Papa Jones
“Pizza, Sports, and Scandals!”

Small Letters Section
(Messenger edition)

Just you
9:54- Link to a submission box
Thu at 5:29pm-NESW open call for Anthology submissions
Thu at 12:42pm- Eight markets seeking speculative fiction
17 poetry markets and competitions seeking submissions
Dec 14th at 1:14am- Image of Black Panther#8
Nov 21st at 2:57am- Pictures of grades
Nov 11th at 1:43pm- Cute video of an animated spider
Nov 6th at 12:27am- Accidental heart emoji
Nov 10th at 2:36am- Be sure to send progress report to ledwards02@spalding.edu
Oct 25th at 4:45pm- Ahola chicken and rice dinner recipe-Pinerest link

Life bruh 

                                                   

  Bae
(Messenger edition)

I text my boyfriend all the time
Everyday since the day we met
And it can be traced to 3 years ago

Our texts keep going and are
Long and fruitful of poems
And stories we share almost everyday

We flirt, we sext, we laugh, we argue.
And we cry in our texts
And it is a full testimony to our relationship

I wait on words from him everyday
And he waits on me as well
Don’t take my phone away
Before telling my boyfriend where I am

I don’t want to keep him worried

He lives in a far land, in the deep south
Far from my preferred comfort
To supplement for times of heartache
To supplement for times of reconciliation

We use this app to experience each other’s love
We experience the warmth of holding
And being in each other’s arms and laps
We make do with the peaches we were given

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 Viagra
“Because impotence needs to be supported”

     Amazon
“Everything you want, and fast”

                                                                                          Bros
                                                                                (Messenger edition)

The Bro’s Creed

We three Brothers of Coke memorial
Swear to hold each other and
Support each other in this sacred and
Organized brotherhood
We swear to stay in touch with each other
And tell each other everything
We swear to let each other know about
Any love interest or relationship one of us might be in
We swear to hold each other up,
And defend each other in times of distress
We swear to see every marvel
And DC comics movie and to
Discuss it thoroughly
We swear to not let any other
Relationship get in the way of this Brotherhood
We swear to not let competitiveness games in
Video games fracture our Brotherhood
The Brotherhood shall remain

     The Leo
“The most liberal newspaper in the most liberal part of Kentucky”


YouTube Comments
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

Add a public comment below:

This movie was trash and it ruined star wars and it killed my childhood

Hey fuck you idiot! This was the best star wars movie ever! You don’t get it cause your an dumbass that can’t read and you don’t know star wars

Obviously this movie is allegory for Trump’s reign as President. It’s so in the context of the movie, and anyone who doesn’t like it is probably a Trump support

 See, this is what happens when you make the main character a woman in star wars= shitty movie

I agree, and less black people too. They ruin it those damn tar babies. I hate these movies trying to be all diverse and shit.

 

YouTube comments are the best.
They reflect the best qualities of us all

 

   The Ballad of the Troll
I am a troll. I am a troll. And I trolololololololololol on everyone’s soul
Status about your dead mother?
I bet she was a whore who went to hell
Some athlete won a championship?
I heard a rumor that he takes steroids
You don’t support Donald Trump?
I do, and I love him

Let us argue, rant and rave
I feed off this everyday
I like to offend.
I’m here to no end

I am a troll, I am a troll, and I trolololololololololol on everyone’s soul
You don’t know me
I’m a racist
You don’t know me
I’m a feminist
I could be anything that I wanna be
You’ll never ever get a hold of me
You think I’m sad
You think I’m bored
But I’m not

I’m not lonely or troubled
My parents don’t beat me in the household
I’m just an asshole….

I am a troll. I am a troll. And I trolololololololololol on everybody’s soul.

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“A soundtrack for your errand days”

  Lyft
“A slightly cheaper Uber app”

      Netflix
“Raised prices, less content”


Love and order
(Messenger-mother edition)
Son
Make sure to get the cable money
Make sure to bring some nuggets from work
Don’t forget to bring the sauce
Make sure to bring me a salad too
Make sure to visit your sister and niece
Make sure you visit your granny today

Make sure to walk tall and bold
Make sure to show no weakness

Make sure to clean your room
Make sure to mop the kitchen floor
Make sure to remember that I love you

Make sure that you’re speaking clearly
Make sure that no matter what
You’ll promise to remain my son
Love mom


Broken promises
(Messenger-Father edition)

Hey son
Hey Junior
What you been up to?
Busy?
I’ll pick you up as soon as soon as I can
I got you some new shoes in the trunk
Did you want to get some lunch?
I’ll teach you how to drive when I get the car
I’ll also take you to the gym to workout together
I’ll show you my business plans for you and I
We’re gonna make some money together son
You can also work with me in the creek rock business
I’ll give you the money we make from it
Hey son, did you want me to pick you?
I got you a new phone for Christmas son
I’ll pay for the bill every month son
I’ll pay for your phone bill next week son
Hey Junior, why don’t you call me sometimes?
I’ll get your phone fixed next week son
I’m sorry I said that stuff son
You scared me
I didn’t want to lose you son
I didn’t mean to call you a faggot son
I’ll teach you how to drive junior
We’ll definitely start working out again son
I love you son

 

***

Photo by Matthew Friedman © 2018