Vanish Poem by Claire Doble

How the time vanished

just wicked away

having its wicked way

with me

I clicketty, click, click clicked away

and killed that time stone dead

it seeped out at the edge

as I trimmed the hedge

I pruned and I snipped

thousands of photos

down to one

or none

or just five-hundred and four

of the best ones

gripping that platform

with my mouse-clicketty fingers

as the world

vanishes

telegraph-portalled into a right-click

for more options and

it's never finished easily

so queasily and

dizzily I try

to walk away

hey

if we don't pay

but we freely stay

and our time, our time, our TIME

has all gone away

oh, I think we have paid

we've laid

our offerings at the altar

of an online church

secular worship

our selfie flagellation

I don't know what's worse

the addiction

our willing cahoots

the news

filtered

through chamber upon echo chamber

as it hits our tired eyes

it could all be lies

made

by performing clowns

now I feel ill

I need to lie down

try not to panic

this too, will all vanish