For years, I have been saying things like, "I love my computer; all my friends live there" and "really, the vast majority of my social life is online". And I have seen, over the years, the power of online communities, ranging from the SSBB Diplomatic Corps to the much more recent saveours00j project. Given that, I was delighted when arielstarshadow prompted "I would like to see something on the internet tribes and cultures we build" in Tuesday's fishbowl.

This poem came out of ysabetwordsmith's December 1, 2009 poetry fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from arielstarshadow. Because I sponsored it, I have non-exclusive reprint rights. Please do not reprint or repost without specific permission from the copyright holder, ysabetwordsmith. If you want to boost the signal, you can link to the original poem.


The World We Made

Weave a web of shadows and light;
Build a bridge of zeros and ones.
Spin a thread of gravity’s grace;
Dance in the night with stars and suns.

Speak the words and a room appears;
Call their names and books fill the shelves.
Sing of legends and here they come –
This is the world we made ourselves.

Holding hands, together we span
Alone in body, not in soul;
Virtual families, warm and bright
Fill in the cracks and make us whole.

Finding new ways, we spread our wings
Always together, not alone.
Homes we raise up, with walls of love,
Here in the world we’ve made our own.