Recalculating

Recalculating

Now people use smartphones,

but remember

when GPS Mary ruled

and told you quite

dutifully

how to proceed.

but when you struck out

on your own,

labeled you an insufferable

goose egg

in one syllable:  “Recalculating.”

You could hear her sighing

for the woe of the world

and her erring GPS children.

A world in that term:

reworked treaties,

revisited stratagems,

reappraised networks.

The road not taken, Mary,

and against your advice,

but mostly

because we dreaded

making that unwieldy left turn

with the vengeance of dozens

bearing down on us

as we slipped just past

the warning

of flashing red.

Split second decision, Mary.

Like an owl deciding

to flag a mouse

and swooping down

to carry it off.

Please forgive us, Mary.

We knew just what we did.