They are low-hanging fruit
to this monkey brain of mine.
Teasing questions and
little listicles
seemingly knowing what I am thinking about
(Why yes, I would like to know five things
to help me reduce the carbs in my diet!)
Whether it is called presence bias
rabbit trails
or just old-fashioned distractions

The shiny internet squirrels, hoarding my eyeball time
like acorns for their corporate overlords
Who are absolutely committed to keeping me from my real work.

Sadly, you would think slaying dragons and saving kingdoms,
or at least plotting the Meet Cute
would be more interesting
then getting the tea
about Olivia Wilde and some salad dressing.

And that it should not take an extraordinary amount of mental strength
to write a page
without having to research
what part of speech “because” is
Not because you are diagramming a sentence
–do they even teach that now?–
but because you just wrote that
No is a complete sentence
and Because is not
and now you really need to know why.
And that could lead to all kinds
of shenanigans
and quite possibly the purchase of Beyonce’s
latest album.
And I should not be pondering Beyonce’s use of Renaissance,
when my main character should be sharpening her sword.