ALL THE HUNGRY GHOSTS HAVE SMART PHONES

Art by Katie Vautour (permission pending)

2002: I was at a cocktail party in New Delhi, and over half the people in the room were on their cell phones.  It was as if the party were happening somewhere else.  I started calling the people in the room that I knew, and when they answered I'd invite them over to chat; they thought my behavior odd, I thought theirs a little frightening.

It was the year human beings began the de-habitation of their bodies; the advent of disembodiment.

I wrote this couplet:

Afraid to be alone

I clutch my cell phone.

2014:  Holy Christ!  You know what's happening, yuppies waving their arms, shouting into the air, people walking into traffic staring into the palms of their hands, text message car wrecks.  At the movie theater last night, one big screen, white and empty, a hundred little screens shining light onto their owner's faces. The party continues happening elsewhere.

Truth be told, it wasn't the advent of the cell phone that, pun intended, disconnected us.  A good case could be made against the automobile.  There's a devil's device if there ever was one.  The first thing it did was remove us from physical contact with the planet, and its exhaust has since managed to choke entire continents - if not the world.  Then, we jump to television:  a hypnotic-addictive drug that comes into us through our eyes and ears, renders us speechless and immobile, and sparks desire. 

We're not only out-of-body, we're out of our minds.  Vampires and zombies are cultural memes, but our own hungry ghosts keep us enthralled.

I'm just as much an out of body mess as anyone, pretty much out of my mind as well.

January 2014:  Three months at the gym.  I'm walking down the street, and in a flash moment there seems to be a different me on the concrete.  I'm rolling through my feet, striding, and feeling the mechanics of every step.  Not only that, I'm balanced.  I have this feeling that everything inside the envelope has been readjusted. I'm feeling a little like Travolta, "Staying Alive." I'm physically and mentally present, the walk is some kind of new dance, and I have never felt as good in my life. 

I'm in my body and laughing out loud.

LOL, my dears...