Pages from Ceefax

'I'm worried about the future' I say,
racing a single car around a Scalextric track.
Twitter trends with 'Man worries about the future.'
'What a loser' some kid replies,
I spend the rest of the evening correcting the typos on his website.

'Maybe there are too many television channels' I think,
tuning in to a channel devoted to people discussing
whether there are too many television channels.
'I just liked it better in the old days' I tell the studio audience
when I am finally invited on the show.
A small section at the back applaud.

'These are my people!' I think, waving.
People who can't get to sleep at night
so read pages from Ceefax
as hot chocolate warms on the hob.

The next morning when I can’t find my house keys
I know that they can’t too. We all retrace our footsteps
pat down every pocket.
'They have literally disappeared.'

'There are too many blogs' I write on my blog
and immediately it disappears
like when a little girl says 'I don't believe in fairies,'
and at the bottom of the garden a family of fairies grieve their mother,
taken so young.

'We are all on life support machines' I tell the studio audience,
stomping on a Macbook,
‘surely it’s all gone too far now’
'We are all being drip fed by these tubes
having God knows what pumped into our veins.’
I unplug all the USB cables I had plugged in
in preparation for the analogy.

'Let's all quit Facebook' I type as my status update
and we count down together
‘10, 9, 8 ...’
and after ‘3, 2, 1’ it's like when you've been in a traffic jam for so long
you say ‘right’ and take off your seatbelt
switch off the engine
lie down on the fast lane of the motorway
stretch out your legs.