Today's poem is by Jason Schneiderman

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Today's distraction: an article on how to avoid distraction.

Turn off notifications. Clear your desktop. Divide things

into what you are working on now and what you will

work on later. Schedule the day. Use a timer. Reward yourself

when you finish a task. Spoiler alert: It won't work.

Remember the "French wardrobe" in which you only owned

variations of one outfit to avoid "decision fatigue"?

(See also, ordering the first thing on any menu; see also,

ordering the same meal at every restaurant.) Question:

is writing this poem a form of distraction or a form of focus?

Am I trying to avoid something more pressing by writing

this poem? Or is this my life's work, and the only thing

that truly matters? Yesterday's distraction: an article

about "toxic productivity" and the value of sloth.

I like the word "toxic," and how now you can put it in front

of anything. Toxic positivity. Toxic masculinity. Toxic futurity.

What if after this poem, we take a break? I'll stop writing

and you'll close this book, not for too long, ten minutes,

say. Twenty if you need more time. We can set a timer.

We can turn off our notifications. It can be our

asynchronous secret, something we did together

though we we've never even met. Something that brought

us calm in a world that everyone agrees is spinning too fast.

We'll make a little island, where my only distraction is you.

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Copyright © 2024 Jason Schneiderman All rights reserved
from Self Portrait of Icarus as a Country on Fire
Red Hen Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission