Dear Screens
My on-again, off-again love affair (letter 315)
Hello fellow learn-it-all 👋 Greetings from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The writing below was created by yours truly, inspired by attending an Offline event where one of the founders read a letter to his phone at Westerkerk, which sparked some bullet points on a sticky note about my relationship with screens. Then many morning pages later, some singing sessions to Kelly Clarkson (iykyk), a chilly dip in the river, and some shower thoughts later, voila. ✨ Now, let’s dive into letter 315 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!
📜🖋 Poetry Corner
Dear Screens
Dear Screens, Sometimes I want to smash you to smithereens. I’ve interacted with you since my teens Always in the back pocket Of my jeans Or up on a table as a part of my work routines. Dear Screens, You’re not what I want When I think of my dreams Each time I’m staring at you You kink my neck down, Your lit-up glass Sucks my soul. You trick me to believe This is leisure But really You are in the ether. Dear screens, In today’s world You’re more essential Then eating my greens Because of you Eye contact feels awkward Because of you My attempts at connection With strangers on the street Are too discreet. Because of you Being bored is bad And so, It is never had. Because of you My well-being wilts With too much stimulation And too little deep sleep. Because of you I am too cerebral With less sun on my skin, Less time as an animal, And not enough with my kin. Because of you My retinas are rotting, And my attention span Is flocking. Dear Screens, With videocalls My relationships still have glue, With your music I feel less blue, And in a foreign city you translate my way through. And so, I won't smash you to smithereens. I'll pick you up again Another day. But not today, Not this weekend. Happily offline, Jen
🌟Quote to Inspire
“You must not ever stop being whimsical.” — Mary Oliver
Listening
Because of You by Kelly Clarkson
I will not make the same mistakes that you did
I will not let myself ‘cause my heart so much misery
I will not break the way you did
You fell so hard
I’ve learned the hard way, to never let it get that farBecause of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side, so I don’t get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid
🙏 Shoutouts
to Lizet Aviva and her music that moved me at her set a few nights ago, and is inspiring me to think about how I could release a mini project as an “EP” of my writing
To Abby Simone whose listening party at a cozy bookstore in Haarlem last weekend got me thinking about the chapters of my own life
To The Offline Club for hosting yet another fabulous event, this time hosted by another gem of a human named Jennifer centered around scraps and stories in journals
To Ed at a café where I treated myself to a coffee
to the stories at Mezrab on what we notice about our bodies. What a welcoming and warm place this is. I am excited to try my hand at storytelling here someday.
To pen and paper that helped me create the first draft of this letter
📸Photos of the Week
I am grateful you chose to fill part of your day here.
If something in this letter resonated, press the ❤️ , leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetJL@gmail.com. I love hearing from you.
Keep on learning 😁
Tot snel 🌺 🌺
Toodles :)
Jen
P.S. #1 - Here’s what you missed. Last week I wrote a poem on anticipation six weeks into a Dutch dream called “The silly goose lands”
P.S. #2 - I wrote a book. Letters to My Life is my favorite way to share my writing with you (and it keeps your screen-time stats down). Grab your copy here.