Looking Back Upon the Era of YouTube

looking back upon the era of youtube

By this means, they tried to make themselves immortal,
the scroll of their days and silly jokes unrolling digitally,

the flickering video rolling ever onward tirelessly
recording, continuously on as they uploaded incessantly,

clicking on phone or tablet, as if to make penny offerings
to the great god they had raised to make themselves laugh.

But in the end, these efforts were bereft of benefit, no oath
of wisdom there— fit only for the entertainments of others.

These little testaments they left became fools’ coercions:
ghost screens, constant shame, meat aglow for bullying diversions.

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About the Contributor

Brett Foster

Brett Foster
Brett Foster is the author of two books of poetry, The Garbage Eater (Triquarterly Books / Northwestern University Press, 2011), and Fall Run Road, which was awarded Finishing Line Press's Open Chapbook Prize. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and in the anthology American Religious Poems (Library of America). He has also written essays on literature, culture, and technology for journals such as Books & Culture, Boston Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Comment, The Cresset, Huffington Post, Kenyon Review, and Literary Imagination. He teaches Renaissance literature and creative writing at Wheaton College

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