The Technology Collection

Written by David Shaffer

 

ALTERNATE REALITY

The world around me keeps
swirling
twirling
turning
churning
While I stand still
motionless
inert
ineffectual
in my inconsequential existence.

VIRTUAL REALITY

Ah!
Rocky,
Reaching that last step.
Neil Armstrong,
Stepping on the moon.
Moon Jae-in,
Winning that election.

Oh!
The VR headset then comes off
dropping to the floor
for me to find
that I
am only
me.

HARD DRIVE

Engines roaring
firing on all cylinders
Pedal to the metal
steadfastly zooming forward

Finish line
in clear sight
Fuel gauge needle
pointing right to “empty.”

SOFT WARE

Formless
Carefree
floating in the cloud
lost in the Ethernet
on the information highway.

Operating systems
all on “go”
CPU
traveling at the speed of light
hitting that proverbial firewall
that oh-so-dreaded blue screen.

 

THE AUTHOR
David Shaffer has spent many years in Gwangju as tenured faculty at Chosun University. He is very much a digital immigrant. At unexpected moments, a poetic urge overwhelms him, even though his postgraduate degrees are in linguistics rather than in literature, creative writing, or poetry. Dr. Shaffer is presently GIC chairman of the board and editor-in-chief of this fine publication.