Poets Corner

IN DEFENCE OF THE SPOKEN WORD

25-06-2007

From ever blander radio playlists to podcasts to audiences who never argue back, Brendan Hawthorne wonders if we’re all wrapped up in our own (cyber)space unable to have a decent argument anymore.

We live in the nano-state

of constrictive censorship

Where the art of

spoken word

is falling about our ears

Public service mics

are on fade-out

Diminishing

the platform

the transmitting mouth-piece

for community speak

the place where

pictures are formed

questions

are framed

and presented

in the language

of the linguistic locale

The language

of empathy

is being

reduced to pap music

interludes

Cosmetic

fall-out

No argument

Just random

counts

Beats per minute

pulsing

blowing through

the bleak

silicon landscape

of binary

fabrications

Satellites are turning

their sun bleached faces

towards best reception

Earth audiences

only to bombard them

with downloads

A post-modernist

modem ipod culture

An isolationist

a-voidance

when all that was needed

was a voice back

A friend

we could call our own

in a doorstep studio

One who could lead a debate

read a poem

tell a story

One who understood

generation

culture

and creed

One who fought

for the small guy

who listened

to the underdog

who fought for

justice

only to find peace

in silence

when the last

chat show

the last radio play

the last

community interest show

closed down

in response

to the 3 minute

sponsor deal

and a

slickly edited

playlist

with contents

as predictable

as politics