AR for the Ears™

 

 

I played air guitar, head on Julie’s lap as we tried AR for the Ears™

I strummed a chord that echoed across unrendered space and she smiled. The park was greyed out and striped except for the bench and a few feet. She pointed at barnacles stuck to a playground as 2-D pixelated algae flew overhead—I got up too fast and everything went green.

 

With the new AR for the Ears™

you can walk in poetry or even dinner.

 

That ad came on as we waited for the next map to load, stray thoughts move the algorithm to places we don’t want to go—why it’s so popular, I don’t get. Nonsensical words callus our memories, an architecture of forgotten reverb from childhood. Just then, I thought of when I peed

my pants first day of pre-school—stuff of nightmares.

When I try to think of a new image, all I see is this four-year-old submerged in play dough—arms scrunched, grandma’s knitted quilt wrapped around. Can a blanket be all that’s left of her?

 

God, get this out of my brain. Math persists with the wooden racecar bed. How I slapped smiley stickers on it from the dentist, attention to detail is impressive, Julie says. Sharpie in time wore off, the hour I could eat again. Ripe banana next to my cookies after a cleaning.

 

Your earwax level has been analyzed.

It is extremely high.

This may reduce the quality of AR’s performance.

 

Won’t be long until someone overdoes it. Sets the bass levels beyond

thresholds or pleasure limits of Délire Mode™. Throw on top of that, the Overdr-eye™ expansion pack. I’m playing it safe, and I already hear constant buzzing. For some reason, my avatar is always left covered in glitter—never used the stuff. I'm more of a magic marker man.

 

Now playing: “This Hill Will Have To Do”

by Thought Bubble Anarchists

 

“I was born as a thought that kept going—

leaped outside of my head and onto the page,

ejected into the world too soon (too soon)

like a USB stick from the 2000s.”

 

Since concentration capacity has been shortened by 17%

and the productivity and consumption upgrade agreements have changed, if you are not at party, the aural worlds are just snip-bits not full song maps.

 

Now playing: “Let’s See If I Can Get Lucky”

by Erratic Beats

 

“You—will you pick me up and let me live in your head—

your soul—would be ideal, God willing?

Maybe I can hitch a ride just for a while (just for a while).

Because this planet I’m on is dying (dying).

This land is sick, so sick. But Ah, who am I kidding?”

 

I swear these insta-gen lyrics are getting so sad, Julie says, and then we both realize we have never actually met. The streetlights came on squeaking like a bike tire against a brake pad.

 

Now playing: “I Think These Hills Will Have To Do”

by Xenon Strobe Machine