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Sharpened Poetry

IT'S NOT COOL TO DO DRUGS
a message on pencils distributed
immediately confiscated at my
nephew's high school when
irreverently sharpened to
COOL TO DO DRUGS
to the more pointed
DO DRUGS
a new
form
of
!
Happ-eBirthday

Re
ading
email is
the new cake.
Party hats are over.
Celebrations tweet. Instead
of blowing out candles I delete
Auto-Notified birthday greets posting
at a speed of 25 Happys-per-Hour. A traffic
jam of cheer clogs my screen. No ice cream. What is
the new etiquette? Where is the ribbon? I answer a thread.
My gift is guilt about your email unread. No time for champagne.
No sex in bed. Instead of happy birthday, we now have online dread.

by Flash Rosenberg

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Available in print

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Flash Rosenberg is an "Attention-Span-for-Hire" who draws, photographs, writes and performs. She is an artist in residence for LIVE from the New York Public Library, a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow, and a member of the poetry collective Brevitas. Flash Rosenberg Studio is a photo, image, and intellectual mischief factory. She lives with three turtles, a conscientiousness of apologies, abundant merriment, infinite questions, and an hourglass 'go figure' of speech. View her animations at: vimeo.com/flashrosenberg