When the nation was founded
And the country was new
You might think to yourself
What did people do?
There weren’t many books
And newspapers were few
So at the end of the day
What did people do?
I suppose there were bicycles
But not many roads
What did people do?
Did they jump up like toads?
But life went on
The nation expanded
It moved south and west
Cities grew, states joined
Technology at its best
What did people do?
Well, they talked
They played board games
They sat on porches
They looked at each other
They knew each other’s names
Then professional sports
Came onto the field
It’s what people did
Their pleasures revealed
Then there was radio
Their ears finely tuned
The family gathered
Like they were marooned
And then came the tv
Soon families had two
They no longer conversed
That’s what they would do
Tape recorders
Video games
Sports cars
Cell phones
And now…
Do we look at each other?
Do we recognize kin?
Do we say, “You’re my mother?”
Oh where do I begin?
So where are we today?
Processed foods?
Streaming tv
The Internet
Have we become so impersonal, alien and isolated?
Have we made the family unit violated?
What do we do?
William “Bill” Aiello is retired United States Postal Service employee. Since retirement, his published works comprise two books, with a third on the way, also a short story, and numerous poems. He is also a ventriloquist, part-time actor and appears monthly at an open mic event. Bill is co-Executive Director of the Miss Five Boroughs and Miss Queens Scholarship programs, two preliminaries to the Miss New York and Miss America competitions. The little spare time he has left is devoted to bicycling, amateur photography, watching horse races, and philately. These are activities with no relation to each other, but he believes dabbling in various fields keeps the mind active and gives him ideas for his written works.