And All At Once I Saw A Crowd Poem by Carolyn O'Connell

Daylight breaks the lamps turn off
busses, cars, trains spiral into the hub
of the town; spewing hords errupt
in human floes from the underground
into the beating heart of commerce.

Attached to every hand and ear a phone,
texts, calls keep everyone engaged
smartphones emailing from everyone
and incessent video, photos uploaded.

The view is limited by the city structures
rising in hosts of spires, errupting fingers
scraping the blue from the waking sky.
No way to see accuracy, to look at lenght,
to absorb the essence of the moment
find what lies behind the patent
in the rush to be connected, confined.

Charmed by constant connection even
the stray sign wings it's way to IPhone
assuming the status of an ancient icon
but yet all ways of seeing are confined
to the macro aperture of the viewfinder,
the bigger picture and the moment past.

The freedom of the now has swallow-flown
into a past when time offered space
to see beyond the crowd of bent heads
blowing in the etheral breeze.