Bruce Bennett

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Toddler with an iPad

I see a toddler with a screen
and think, Good God! What does that mean?

Poor kid! He’ll never learn to read.
Plus, he’ll be saddled with a need

to always be online. No friends.
We know how such a story ends:

Addiction. Loneliness. Despair.
Engrossed, with one hand in the air,

he scrolls and scrolls. His future looms:
video games in barren rooms,

until, at last, he’s laid to rest
with one last iPad on his chest …

—Wait! Here’s his Mom! He’s not alone!
Oh no! She’s given him her phone.

On the Responsibility of Drivers

You’re welcome to pass me. I don’t really care.
I’m hoping, as you are, that no car is there.
But, if the worst happens, well, that’s how it goes.
I’ll serve as a witness that that’s what you chose.

The… The…

“I don’t know anything about it, so it’s hard to explain.”
Overheard in a NYC museum

It’s round, it’s big, it’s really neat!
I’ve never, ever, seen
a work unfinished so complete!
It’s partly a machine

and partly natural, an oeuvre
that’s built to show how vexed
life is. It should be in the Louvre.
Come on! Let’s see what’s next.

Bruce Bennett is the author of numerous collections of poetry and poetry chapbooks. His poetry website is https://justanotherdayinjustourtown.com.