caitlin m.s. buxbaum

American Sentence

Chilly evenings darken with your scrolling, scrolling—what are you looking for?

Look Up

Whatever steals you away
from your smartphone
for an hour or two,
hold onto that—whether

it’s watching a chick flick
or lying on the bathroom floor
with your best friend,
discussing your hopes & dreams,
hold onto it—you never know

when you’ll look back
and hindsight will be 2020,
because you forgot to look up
from your Twitter puns,
Instagrammable lunches
and Facebook resolutions
at the time, which has 
suddenly passed you by.

Gratification

social media has given us expectations 
that were never meant to be met, 
or at least not in the timeframe 
we now demand

we’ve forgotten what it means 
to write a letter
and wait
for the reply,
not assuming
its absence is anything personal

and there are no ‘likes,’
emojis, DMs or comments,
no followers or friends to amass 
for status or credibility
in that kind of correspondence

but on a good letter’s arrival
there is simply—importantly—delight
at having waited and received;

having been patient,
and later,
rewarded.