The Social Life

It’s how to get in the new

To have more friends than your friends do

To politely reject an outing with an “Oh, I have plans.”

Because weekends are worthless unless the bands

At the parties don’t damage your ears

And the smoke and the drinks don’t haze over the clear.

As long as that’s what they think

When your Saturday night’s at home, thumbs in ink,

Hunched over homework from Geometry.

In straightjackets, we think we are free

To make simple choices:

Friend or unfriend people with only computer voices.

Post a photo and think they’ll send a prayer

When you’re hurt and aching; who cares?

So many definitions brought to our lives

To think how we ever survived

With faces, and laughter, and eyes meeting eyes,

Private corners, whispered secrets and less lies,

When it wasted just so much time

You could’ve been watching your number of contacts climb.

Scandals are fine if they remember your name.

And pushing and shoving is all part of the game.

The social life:    

The fear of having not enough friends,

The greater fear of admitting it.