On the Knife Edge of the Present, and How to Look Away

With apologies to Wallace Stevens

In the twenty-first century, we are julienned and frittered, days divided by alarms, eyes fixed on clock or smartwatch or phone to make sure we don’t miss our next meeting—next swim meet—next appointment—next chance. We drag on our smartphone screens to refresh web pages so we don’t miss the words typed in the past seconds, however meaningless. Things w…