Before the Phone

There was a time before the phone was everything—
before the pocket held the whole world's noise—
when boredom was a country you visited sometimes
and the silence was among the season's joys.

We showed up at each other's houses unannounced—
knocked on the door and simply were received—
we made our plans and kept them without checking,
and the checking was the keeping and we believed.

I do not want the old world back entirely—
I use the phone, I love the reach it gives—
but I miss the way attention used to settle,
the slower, unattended life that lives
only in the looking-back.
feelthewords.com