Cupid at the Crosswalk

I stand at the crosswalk every morning, a predator poised to pounce

a melody aching to be heard - a song waiting for you to sing or just hum

seeking acknowledgement that my existence somehow matters to you

should you finally look up from your phone, your obsession...to find love stalking you.

i could make the dance of shadow easy, and timely distract your gaze

but what satisfaction is to be found in seizing an easy prey...and yet

how can you be so absorbed in – consumed by – something so inanimate

whilst I, flesh and blood, pine away, expectancy draining my determination, your banal focus stifling my resolve

the thrill of the hunt pulses in my veins...the taste of conquer a bitter vetch, pulsing, yearning, reaching the boiling point of hunger in need of sating

our most precious resource is time, why are you in a crisis of distraction, your attention so mis-focused

take a walk outside of your technology driven consciousness, place your phone inside your inner pocket.

Did you perchance hear my voice inside your head...dear socially immersed one

for your eyes darted around, uneasily staring at the people on the busy sidewalk, as if you weren't sure what to make of the world.

will it be this morning, while you wait at the crossing, that you will finally say hello to the woman standing beside you.

He looks across at her...their eyes locked.

"Finally,” the woman will say. "I’ve stood in this spot for two months and you’ve never looked up".

"We are in a crisis of distraction". She says. "We are constantly task-switching. Our attention has been hijacked in so many ways. And no matter how many hacks we’re doing, we are exhausted. But it’s not from doing too much. It’s from being everywhere and nowhere all at the same time".

"You're like this total epiphany". He says. "I’m doing the very thing that I always say not to do, and that I didn’t ever want to ever do".

"We have all been getting our focus all wrong, most think of focus as something we have to do to get things done. But this makes it all about output. We have to think about it very differently. Focus, is an act of emotional strength. How do we claim our clarity and presence in a world that commodifies our attention? How do we decide what matters and then protect it"? She says.

"In this time that we’re in culturally, everyone has normalised burnout in a way that I think is really dangerous. We kid ourselves that we are resting when really we are merely distracted. A distraction is something you do to escape the present moment. Resting is a return to presence. Both involve stepping away – but only one of them is restorative". He says.

And just like that...The hunt is over.

Cupid's arrows fly with poetic intent. He downs the animals in their track.

Victory...another successful hunt.