Words today are
howd you say,
in sad retreat,
or obsolete?
They slide around
conducting sound,
deferent
to moving ground
where once they were
as referent
to common sense
as having common meaning;
misuses of
the proper case
in user space
are typically
so commonplace
they now create
a new taxonomy,
I even heard
a weak excuse
when sorely vexed
by cryptic text
which claimed
the cause
on mobile phones
was key economy!
That Id like to see!
Ill try a few;
now ?RU means
How are you?
and RUOK
is obvious but what it says
precisely is I have to ask
you if youre well,
so you can tell
me youre OK, ok?
As 2 Y Ud?
I couldnt make a guess,
unless youd textd
your state of health.
W?RU means
where are you?,
& HuRU? is
who are you?
& W?DoU? means
whaddaya want?
or why do you ask?.
I find it but
a thankless task
to try to read
a literal text,
I never was
a code adept;
in SMS
the message rests
between abbreviations,
it may be found
in common sounds
expressed in close conjunction,
or even worse,
the poets curse,
cryptic alliteration.
The tongue is called
textase, dont ask me
what its meant to be,
the act itself is texting,
and not, you guessed,
as mundane as
just sending text,
the effect of texting is
being textd.
Confused?
You are excused.
© I.D. Carswell
Key economy
written byIvan Donn Carswell
© Ivan Donn Carswell