Not Texting but Drowning: A Poem for Generation Z

Not Texting but Drowning

A playful echo of Stevie Smith’s famous poem turns a familiar warning into a modern satire of smartphone dependence.

Nobody heard her, the young teen,
She stood submerged in water.
I had climbed halfway up the hillside
Waving but she was texting.

Poor girl was always on the phone,
Now the battery is almost dead.
And when it dies, she may look up,
She’s so distracted her mother said.

What shall she do with her time now,
(The young girl looked up complaining).
I had almost reached the peak –
And still she could not see me waving.

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