“The Internet of Things” by Erin Murphy

March 18, 2022Posted by

Erin Murphy

THE INTERNET OF THINGS

(n.): the networking capability that allows information to be sent and received by objects and devices

The low tide riverbed silt 
of things. The cloud-swept 

distant hill of things. 
The open bedroom window 

in spring of things. 
The moonlit cricket 

symphony of things. 
The pitter-patter 

tin roof rain of things. 
The fifty-year marriage 

loose skin of things. 
The clipped winter light 

of things. The stippled lymph 
node of things. The grief. 

Oh—the grief. The brief 
ecstatic flight of things. 

—from Rattle #74, Winter 2021
Readers’ Choice Award Winner

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Erin Murphy: “I grew up in a home where two newspapers a day were delivered to our front stoop: one in the morning, the other in the evening. I credit this with my interest in the news, which led to an early job as news editor of a daily paper and even now inspires many of my poems. Reading a business article that mentioned the technology term ‘the Internet of Things’ (or ‘IoT’) last summer, I began thinking about our other collective experiences—the natural world, relationships, death—and about William Carlos Williams’ pronouncement, ‘No ideas but in things.’” (web)

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