A message from elsewhere.
By Virginia Sada York, January 2020
We are sitting at my kitchen table,
Together finally after months apart
But
PING
There is a call or text or pic or message.
Constantly elsewhere calls you.
No matter the nice meal prepared for you by me with love.
No matter the conversation we are in with earnest care.
PING
It’s the trance of ‘ELSEWHERE’ a wise friend calls it.
Gotta talk to someone else.
Gotta think about something else.
Be with you in a mo.
I have so much else in my life. … really can’t focus here.
My life is spent coaching biz execs about presence
and relating authentically
and giving their hearts and minds.
But now young ones come and EXPECT a place set at the table for their phone as
PING
Something really important might be happening somewhere,
Definitely more important than truly being present with us here.
PING
The execs hold the phone over the head of their kids,
Checking emails from clients and
Sales pitches that need attention at 9.30 pm at night.
PING
There is no chance of a full long night of sleep
Who needs that anymore
When there are messages to return, likes to feel good about,
Posts to read, pix to like?
I haven’t got time for you,
I am needed ELSEWHERE.
Threw up my hands in horror,
Left the table and watered the garden,
Talking and relating to plants that are not going anywhere,
That spread their healing energy without thinking
where else they could be!
Yes I lived through the bushfires
Watched the app (when the power wasn’t out)
Heard the comfort of the ABC radio telling stories and updates far and wide.
But touch and contact and presence and breathing together
Hugs and silence and story telling between humans
Didn’t become more important than the phone app,
Than the what is happening ELSEWHERE.
Life is here, its here, its here.
There is only now – not before, not tomorrow.
HERE IS WHERE WE LIVE!
When the friend who lost his home came to stay
We sat hours over teas and food and wine
And talked and looked and touched.
Touch – yes another word.
You could hug, you could caress, you could hold me
But instead
PING your family needs you
PING a baby nephew has a cute pic posted
PING your other people other places did something
More important than looking me in the eye and saying you love me.
PING
I GET A RESPONSE TO THIS POEM.
PING I SEE A POST ON FACEBOOK.
For me when in my study
Connection to the outer world is fine,
Necessary.
Part of my work world.
Part of belonging.
But when I come to the hearth,
To the table, lovingly laid with good food for you,
To the bed, eager for connection and skin
And astral thoughts shared
And imaginings of other realms of sleep and beyond
PING PING PING
You rise and go to the others.
We are a society in danger of being scared of nature.
We are a society in the deep grip of epidemic depression levels and anxiety in children and adults abound.
We are a society so lost from tribe and community
Unable to grow our own food
Unable to focus where we are.
Do you really need an app to tell you the way the wind is blowing?
Do you really not know when you took your presence
from someone who loves you and is right near –
is interested but you gave your attention and focus to a screen?
Do you really prefer to sit up all night talking to “friends” on a computer game
and not have any daytimes filled with sunshine, wind, light, ground,
animal friends, gardens, earth?
Is the night really where you now choose to live?
PING
Gotta go – someone else needs me.
Sorry.
No time left.