Ode To the Zoom Screen

photo by thomas brock

Ode To the Zoom Screen 

second year alexis kelley

Thank goodness for zoom

Yes, its ability to function is not ideal

Yes, it’s annoying, patchy, and boring 

No, I rarely learn in class

But it’s kept us connected

It’s given us the ability to see faces and rooms

And hear accidentally unmuted conversations

It shows us a new part of classmates

The gallery view is an art show:

It puts everyone’s faces and worlds together

So you can see someone driving in their car

Or someone’s curious roomie

The professors that force cameras on

Are the ones that create these memories from quarantine:

The times when a girl in creative writing was drinking wine from the bottle

Just chilling with her camera on

There are those people who sit outside

Where  the wind sounds like a hand mixer hitting the bowl

And their sound quality helps you miss every point they make

But it might  be the only isolated place to talk to their laptop 

The way that you can see everyone’s faces 

Pop up next to each other in their beds or at their desks

You get to meet their hairless cats as they walk in frame

And hear roommates disrupt the peace

Though it can be draining 

And feel pointless when you hop on and off, 

It gives us a view we never would have seen

And time we would have missed

It allowed us to sit outside on sunny springy days

And be aware of which wall in our room is the cutest

It made the 20 minutes between classes time to hang in the kitchen 

And labels to remember people’s names

So thank goodness for zoom 

Even if we lose internet connection for a bit

Even if we never pay attention during class 

Because it closes the distance between us