Never Together, Never Alone: A poem for my iPhone.

Never Together, Never Alone: A poem for my iPhone

Never together
Never alone
Forever tethered
Chained to the phone

A phone it is not
I don’t use it to talk
I tap and I scroll
My eyes always locked

On the screen,
I could scream
I could throw it away
But the siren is calling
All night and all day

How do I get rid
Of this thing that I hate
This noisy old, bossy old
Pushy ingrate?

This thing in my hand
Makes a terrible master
It always is yelling
Quick, Hurry, go faster

Perhaps it is time
To put it in its place
To look up from my phone
And look into the faces

Of those whom I love
And those who love me
To cast it away
And finally be free!

Oh to be free
To be fully alive
With head lifted up
And eyes open wide

With my hands free and open
and ready to give
With heart fully present
to this life that I live

– Trish Shank, 2025