Information
A David Ignatow remix poem
This poem has a thirty-day open rate of twenty-seven point two five percent. Perhaps I missed a beat or two but I do feel triumphant at having persisted in counting by hand view by view and marked down on paper with pencil each total. Adding it up was a pleasure I could understand; I did something on my own that was not dependent on others, and to count views is not less meaningful than to count subscribers, as platforms are always doing. They want the data to be sure they have it all. It would help them to know how much each poet is worth. I discovered the value of a single poem. I must try counting the comments per character, and you too. We could swap information.
This is a remix (an imitation) of the poem Information by David Ignatow.
I was inspired by X.P. Callahan’s poem below:
I was very frustrated last week with Substack (the platform, not the people on it). And I expressed it in a not-so-helpful way. I should have channeled that frustration into poetry.
David Ignatow had a dead-pan style of expressing frustration that can stop all the conversation in the room. I tried to write a poem in this style but he captured my feeling perfectly in Information. So instead, we have this remix.
Nice one, Josh. I think platforms are so into numbers because they’re concrete and scalable. (Bonus points: they can be attached to our concept of our own social worth!)
Used to be, we had enough real-time experiences and relationships that we could see digital metrics in their proper context. Now, though, it’s often all we focus on, and so the numbers do double duty—they define meaning for themselves and for real life. (For example, sunsets only count if our photo of them gets a minimum number of likes; we’re sad if it doesn’t. The numbers can now redefine that memory for us.)
I’m glad we’ve become more literate with respect to the dangers of online numbers, but platforms still play their games of course. All the more reason to get away from the screens for a healthy amount of time each day.
Substack regularly frustrates me. But I stick with it because I love the people, like you, Josh!