forgive me
if I stammer
but
my laugh just traveled
4,000 miles
pinged from satellite
to satellite
over continents
& oceans
to meet your ears
instantly.
I am not
so far
from those
who worship
airplanes
or think cameras
swallow souls
because
I want to shriek
at the impossible
made mundane–
the everydayness
of our voices
my family
floated this distance
in months
once
weaving drunk
once they touched
the sand of
this new continent
the same path
our breathing just
casually stretched across
to braid together
intimately
in seconds
Susan Daniels Poetry 
I am something less than that away from you, but far enough. These days the miles hardly matter and matter is fluid as we surf the waves of connectivity. You laugh, and i respond. i post and you reply. Miles apart and close as a keyboard, I remember lining up to see the Gods Must be Crazy, I remember seeing Il Postino and relating even though it was so far removed. Where you start from isn’t nearly as important as where you finish up.
Exactly, David! Sometimes, I just stop to think about what we do so casually–what would have been impossible for our parents to do, and it boggles my mind 🙂
On the other hand, in my case, my parents had fabulous parties. Catered affairs, with brightly coloured Sobranie cigarettes arrayed alongside the table decorations, updoes and fancy dress, excessive drinking, all as we children listened in on the intercom network, which was pretty cutting edge for the sixties. My youth was privileged and iconic; part Tom Sawyer and part Holden Caulfield and I cherish each memory.
Wonderful description 🙂
So well described. I’m just happy that it still amazes me; that I have no yet become ‘used’ to this miracle of miracles! 🙂
I know–isn’t it awesome!?!
Yes, yes, yes, yes! I love this.
Steven–thank you! I hope I never get used to this 🙂
huge exhales..
o’this is wonderful!
Thank you, Mari–just tweaked it a wee bit 🙂
It really is a small world…
In some ways, yes.
Perspective, again. Nice.
Yes–Dizzying, if we think about it too much!
The connectivity of the global village described so wonderfully
Thank you, Celestine. We are so much closer in some ways—but those miles measure the same 🙂