This is my final project for ITP Camp 2103, and was inspired by Dan O’Sullivan’s class with the same title.
“If you have time, you should become a Buddhist,”
A man I trust has uttered, and we laughed.
Then fading smiles, and lingering of thought,
The eyes around the room in search of answers.
Is past forgotten? What is in the present?
The future – full of disconnected bits.
The final project – empathy machine. Machine!
I love technology, but not as much as you.
The images will dance according to your whisper,
The screen will go black if someone screams,
The flowers will bloom – just need the current,
And don’t forget to wave your hand, or else
It won’t work. Machines need input.
And so do I. The rest of me is you.
The rest of you is me. But what about time?
The time it took to write these lines,
I could have shot a lovely moving image –
Of orange lilies sighing in the sun,
Of children splashing in a sparkling fountain.
But look – a lonely man is crying. The bench is hot –
He won’t notice; his love is gone, his time is running out.
I could have held his hand…
These are my projects, un-captured but remembered.
If we had time to feel, but life has filled the days.
And then a whisper, “there is always time.
To hold his hand, to kiss your baby’s curls,
To walk in no particular direction,
Until your feet are numb and heart is open.”
If you have time, you should become a Buddhist.
VM
6/21/13
Vica Miller Literary Salons 