-Jackson MacLow, PHONE, 1978

“Wait here so I can say love.” Reading this poem makes me think about how in the past when people weren’t somewhere—with you—it was because they actually weren’t there, at that place. Now everyone is unanimously, half-assededly here without being anywhere—there—with anyone. Not being there used to make sense. You called someone and if they didn’t answer the phone—you—it was usually because they weren’t home. What are the reasons for not answering now? Not calling now. For not being there now. For not being-with now. For being-with now. Everyone has a phone between them and someone else not to call or answer or reach or find. Now the being-with is the phone itself. For the phone itself. Avital Ronell calls the cell phone the House of Being. My mom calls it everyone’s Great Utopia.

Crossposted with Love Dog.