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Following a public vote in which more than 37,000 people had their say, we’re pleased to announce that the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 is ‘brain rot’… ‘Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”. —Oxford University Press, December 2, 2024 |
I remember the landscape
before chatbots
After all, it was
only two years ago
My mind is a limited
I take in material
I share material
I forget if I took time
to synthesize the material
My biases and missteps
are not about extra fingers
I fear The Paperclip Problem
less than I fear the race
This race has been trending
towards the bottom
We know major players
but consider a dark horse
It could all go sideways
except for the 1%
Meantime, we’re burning
all available fuel
The deafening buzz—endless
noise on my mind
All I can talk about
is what I consume
While I remain aware
I contain stories
The storyteller in me
is trained by misdirection
I mean the need to hold
irreconcilable truths
While seeking the answer
to some nebulous void within
I know this brain rot
as a weak pulse
I fear mediums
and messages
The troubling satisfaction
of pulled attention
My hacked mind
knows susceptibility
Everything is content
and I am a heavy user
Mark Danowsky is Editor-in-Chief of ONE ART: a journal of poetry. He is the author of four poetry books. His fifth book, Take Care, is forthcoming from Moon Tide Press.
