The Click-Bait

By Michael Winkelman

with apologies to John Donne

Log on with me and you’ll so love
To shop online for lots of stuff:
Trending E-books, or sparkly things
Which Amazon’s drone swiftly brings.

There will the pixels silvery shine
On Ebay merch whispering “thine!”
And there myriads can waste their hours
To screens inclinèd, like sunflowers.

When thou wilt surf on that Wide Web
For viral buzz ’bout some celeb,
Know’st cookies from Big Brother, Inc.
Are mining clues to all you think.

If streaming vid of how you twerk
Is Not Suitable for View at Work,
Please give me leave to watch on Skype;
#BestDanceEver! I’ll tweet sans hype.

Let others hack a Juliet
Essay from the Windowy ’Net,
Or share alt-facts re: post-truth media
Straight from all-knowing Wikipedia.

Let addicts gaze on cyberporn
That keeps them up until the morn,
Or swipe right on a dating app
To meet, toot sweet, a bird or chap.

But thou, by algorithm, or Fate,
Art for myself thine own clickbait,
The top result of sites searchable
Though, alas, you’re only ‘Virtual.’

‘The Click Bait,’ dox2017
iBook, 2-17

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