C. M. Gigliotti
“screenshots of nothing”
these days I see it everywhere:
one girl unsubscribes from
another’s time, doesn’t say why.
I’m no saint either: find me
fetal with the new mgmt
risking an airpod lobotomy
while the surveys go unanswered.
being a translator means shuttling
our words from the bar to the club,
then googling to hammer in
the final nail back at your place.
command someone’s attention then
shift your own. losses come in
three. count to four to crop them out.
and now they’ve taken this
from us too, leaving black boxes
where audiences never lift
their eyes to see the plays.
eventually there won’t be a thing
to separate us from ourselves.
C. M. Gigliotti (she/her) is a zillennial multi-hyphenate artist with an MA in English from Central Connecticut State University and a BA in Creative Writing from the Writers Institute at Susquehanna University. Her work has appeared recently in Songs of Eretz, Prose Poems, Scraps, Beatdom, and VIA (Voices in Italian Americana) and is forthcoming in two fantasy anthologies. She lives in Berlin.
Author’s note: This poem was inspired by the article linked in the penultimate stanza. Keep screenshotting whatever you can, friends: these will become our records.
