- ( Apologies to Emily Dickinson...) On the day, and at the time of my mother’s death… 9 July , 2019 , 8.30am... I could not stop for Facebook, and Facebook did not kindly stop for me… And that Facebook post holds not just himself, but also Myrtle’s immortality For the outpouring of his grief- he spared no haste… 9 July, 2019 , 10.30 am… My mother’s passing still hovering on the edge of then and now He updated a profile photo of he and she With words that read I always miss you Myrtle Meanwhile my sister and I had put away our grief Our mourning and our crying too For the sake of Civility Our first task to let Myrtle’s sisters and family know That she had passed the setting sun So that they did not find out Second hand or publically. While we were calling people who have spent Their lifetime loving Myrtle His friends… strangers to Myrtle Were publically, quivering for him A sanitised sorrow -digitally! While those who had spent a lifetime loving and knowing Myrtle Had not yet even cried their first tears of heart, felt grief or had time to process their loss Myrtle was first turned toward Eternity Not by Death and His carriage at a slow, mournful pace But by a Facebook post for strangers, To lament her passing in haste. About this post: Some might know /remember that the focus of some of my craftivist and art work around memory, story and identity focuses on how social and digital media impacts and shapes our interactions with time/space/place/self and others..
I understand that grief and mourning is not an easy topic to navigate or for people to consider, or even talk about and that at a time of grief we process differently. This post is not meant as anything other than a personal reflection on the impact of social and digital media on our grieving and mourning: time, space, place, and process . |
About this blogmany roads... ...on the journey words follow me, push me forward, and sometimes, overtake me. CategoriesArchives
March 2021
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