Cancer

I’ve never thought of you as a crab.

Perhaps an otter,
sleek and affectionate,
or an owl,
peering wisely over your glasses
at a riddle or a puzzle.

I think actually you may be like an ant.
Please don’t be offended!
Let me explain.

Ants are incredibly strong for their size.
They always seem to be working,
scurrying, going somewhere
or carrying something.
You carried us many times.

Busily striving for a far wider colony.
Serving, helping, connecting.
You are always connecting.
Always know whose birthday
is when, who’s doing well,
who’s sick.

No surprise then
that so many connections
go both ways.
So many anxious, heartfelt messages
from across your colony, our colony.

But of course,
the ant is not a symbol of the zodiac.
So was crab inevitable?

You still have an ant’s strength.
No crab will beat you.
You will beat it.
Your colony is with you.

connectivity kills

People these days send such nothing messages
constantly connected with nothing to say
I hold such disdain for the mundane:

lol

and yet I clutch my phone, feel naked without its comforting weight
in my pocket or by my bed, so I can lie
rest it by my head
and keep updated with the minutiae
of all these friends, so close

yet we’ve barely spoke in person
and we meet again and barely do
because we know everything we’ve each been up to

each instagrammed meal and snapchatted evening
each whatsapp-planned social and facebooked event

’til eventually, and I know I’m right
can see it so clear
we will all sit together, in one room, unspeaking
but conversing through these cold digital media
our every thought

til they are all the same.