The way I see it,
Virtual reality is a whole new kind of world,
A whole new world materializing on our computers,
On our headsets and cellphone screens.
Its horizons have no physical limits,
Its diameters don't fit into our physical senses,
It moves beyond the scope of our past experiences.
For example, in virtual reality,
You could fly off to Paris with a facsimile of Taylor Swift
In the morning, and in the afternoon
Sail the Caribbean with a facsimile of Ernest Hemingway.
Think of playing tennis with John McEnroe,
Pitching to Babe Ruth,
Or skating with Peggy Fleming.
All in the comfort of your home,
In an easy chair, within easy reach of your favorite drinks
Or snacks.
These experiences could be endless.
Just when you get tired of climbing Mount Everest,
You could switch to a hammock in French Polynesia.
All with the push of a button or a mouse click.
Without leaving the safety of your room,
You could seem to visit Mars or Pluto.
You could appear to stand on the rings of Saturn
Or walk around in the Mariana trench
Without a space helmet or a deep diving suit.
You could cut and paste all kinds of experiences together
Out of thin air.
Reconfigure the landscape,
Rearrange the furniture,
Reorganize the people in your social network.
The sunlight and the moonlight,
The feel of the wind or rain,
The souls of the people around you
Would hardly matter anymore.
The real experience would be all in your head.
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Author Notes
There is a wry humor to this poem, I think, as the narrator relates his experiences in virtual reality. And it owes much in its prose style to the prose poetry of Jack Anderson, whose work I much admire. It is very much in the vein of his poems like Commanding a Telephone to Ring and Transcendence of the Pencil. Repetitions of phrasing create the thin music here, out of their echoes, but it is really a description of a shadow of the real world, inspired by the creation of the Metaverse by people like Zuckerberg. And it asks the question, is it really better to live in a cartoon world? estory
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