The Modern Age
A Poem About Modern Life
The modern age
Progress, regress
I confess
The blessings of modernity
Are not lost on me.
Were I the same but born back then.
I would be dead, time and again.
At birth (preemie)
Of croup (age 3)
Of infections (too many).
An atheistic Jew cannot look back
But in horror; and wonder at the lack
Of pogroms and witch hunts, and of camps
Some modern things are well-lit lamps.
And yet, and yet, sometimes I get
Nostalgic for a past we haven't been to yet.
We've moved from care to cure
We've changed our lure.
And now the first thing doctors ask is
Sometimes not what the healing task is
But rather what your policy will cover.
So, though I'm a modernity-lover
I still hope we can recover what we lost
At such cost.
Published by Peter Flom
I am a statistician, working with a wide variety of clients, mostly researchers in psychology, education, medicine, social sciences and other fields. I also have given talks and written articles on learning... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a Commentps This is just brilliant and I have nominated it for poem of the year! :-) Good luck!
Wonderful poem, it makes you think. :-) Well done! I favorited you. Write on!
I also love some aspects of modernity, but realize too that some aspects are empty substitutes for in person communication, and diminish our contact with nature. I believe increased distance from each other and nature brings anxiety and disorientation to our species. I miss the connection and sense of belonging I felt when stories were told and conversation was gold beneath quiet, starlit nights. This poem reaches deeper space. Very nicely done.
I enjoyed your poem, thanks!
Peter, this is wonderful. Very true and well written.
A fabulous poem, filled with deep passion and insight. Thanks!
Back again. Good job.
Excellent work--thought provoking. I like Mike O's comment, too.
@ Lady Sam - instead of regression and revision - seems we're recycle and reuse - or abuse! cheers :)
This was so good, Peter! I remember when I was little telling my mother that I thought we lived in the "olden" days because they looked fun, and she said, "really? do you like the TV and the fact that clean clothes are ready in an hour and pizza and getting a ride to wherever you are going in the car?" I had to give her all that, but the simplicity and the humanness of the era gone by was still appealing.