Friday, November 19, 2010

The Future: Heartbreak Is Epidemic

Harry B. Sanderford

Death by broken heart has become so commonplace that the accumulating corpses of the unrequited are now nearly as ordinary and invisible as the homeless. Busy bluetoothed brigades of moving, shaking, go-getters kick ass, take names and absently text URGENT missives while merely stepping over and around the weak of heart. Recreational shoppers deftly steer overfull baskets in the direction of much, much, more with only a peripheral perception of the heaped up hopeless for whom the motto "shop till you drop" was just never enough. In the know hipsters have figured a clever loophole that allows them to hate the game and the players by only having sex with people they can't stand while listening to separate IPods. Survival of the fittest focuses a blind eye on a guarded heart and this too is evolution. Cobalt splashes on aftershave and cranks up Roxy Music's Love Is The Drug on his antique stereo, knowing full well the risk but unable to staunch the flow of cartoon hearts that stream embarrassingly from his head in Gina 3.7's presence.

11 comments:

Michael Solender said...

Ain't this the truth. Well put Hal.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Great rhythm, flow in this piece. Hypnotic descriptions and the content, well, it's just sad, isn't it? That we've come to this? Very true - unfortunately.

Anonymous said...

I echo Cathy's comment - very well written and so terribly sad. Great job Harry!

John Wiswell said...

I like the aggressive rhetoric and diction, rattling off unusual ways to say these things. Makes it exotic even as you lament exaggerated real problems.

Steve Green said...

This piece comes at you like machine-gun fire Harry, it is chock full of a razor sharp insight of harsh truths. Well done.

Stephen said...

"In the know hipsters have figured a clever loophole that allows them to hate the game and the players by only having sex with people they can't stand while listening to separate IPods."

A line that evokes such a souless image. All I can say is, "Wow."

Eric J. Krause said...

Great voice in this one. Sadly it speaks the truth very clearly.

Harry said...

Thanks alot everyone, my outlook isn't really this glum I promise! There is alway hope with Cobalt and Gina 3.7 throwing caution to the wind. :)

~Tim said...

I agree with all the previous comments. Wow. Cool piece.

Paul D Brazill said...

Punchy writing with a good soundtrack, too!

Jodi MacArthur said...

" In the know hipsters have figured a clever loophole that allows them to hate the game and the players by only having sex with people they can't stand while listening to separate IPods." This part really really made me laugh. Cheers, Har Bro!