https://

Remember-back-when-the-internet-was-an-awful-sound.netscape
screeching-and-squawking.gov
witches-being-boiled-in-oil.html
the-exact-ones.org
we-were-pretty-sure.op
whose-magic-made-the-machine-run-in-the-first-place.org
and-when-you-guarded-your-ears-with-your-fist.com
to-protect-them-from-the-knife-stabbing-your-eardrums.info
until-the-storm-abated-and-you-navigated-your-cursory-ship.net
mickey-mouse-glove-or-arrow-shaped.gov
to-the-object.org
the-reason-you-begged-your-mom-to-hang-up-on-your-aunt.html
the-golden-fleece-at-the-end-of-your-Odyssey.lit
_____https://www.aim.com
_____https://www.neopets.org
_____https://www.myspace.com
and-the-rest.info

Remember back to yesterday
when you booted up your laptop in a nanosecond
_____less, if you had only put it to sleep by closing the screen
_____instead of shutting it all the way down like a sane person
and in the breath between solitude and connection
did you mourn what we lost before knowing it

This morning, when your sleep-tracker-slash-alarm
vibrated your phone until it fell off the bedside table
as you frantically tapped the screen of your iPhone or galaxy
shining brighter than the confederacy of stars it was named for
did you hesitate, just for a millisecond
before your stiff, still-waking-up finger poked at the night-cold glass,
did you wait in the stillest seconds
before anyone needed you
_____hated you
_____liked you
_____felt anything at all about your existence
did you drink in the sound of the birds–
_____or, if you work for a living like the rest of us,
_____the quiet before them–
and did you just,
for a breath-taking
screeching
moment

be.