This is a poem written by my friend Joan Greenbaum. It's geared toward a "senior" audience, but I think speaks to all.
Ode to the Selfie
Listen, this is not so easy,
it takes some skill
and stead-fasted-ness
a perverse sense of humor
and a long arm;
Yes its best done by the young
with their shifting shapes
of face, body
and personality
as well as their wicked sense
of playfulness.
But you too; the grey, the pot-bellied,
the shifting shape of age,
you too, can get the knack
as you possess a stubborn sense of humor
and a sixteen year old
scratching to get out.
And here is the trick,
the beauty of it all;
you can frame your own life,
not the full-on, stand and smile shot
where your oddly chosen orange
sweater and protruding belly
steal the scene.
You alone can hide that double chin,
those sagging eyelids, deepening wrinkles
and that body bulge
heading south.
Listen it's not easy,
it takes some skill, but
you can accentuate your surroundings,
placing yourself in the frame, like
an old Dutch painting,
highlighting your home, your coffee cup
the tschotkas in the bookcase, or
that wine bottle in your hand,
almost empty.
Ask your grandchildren to send you selfies
ask your friends to take a shot
of their favorite place with a slice of themselves
in the corner,
Ah, but I hear you thinking,
its selfish; those selfies
embody a culture growing inward,
like an infected toe nail.
A civilization swiveled on its axis
as the iphone becomes our compass
of self pointing functions.
Ok, believe what you want
from your end of the lens
of history.
Hold on to your shrinking memory,
but remember; some selfies have soul;
and only you can steal that
for yourself.
So, look,
look up at Instagram
and down at the filters on your ipad
see the ways that you,
and your selfie,
merge into the larger mosaic
the still life our times.