Scott Simpson · Poetry
V. Faster Than Attention
The World We Mean · Spirituality as Attention · Singing · V. Faster Than Attention
All poetryThe original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.
Poem segment 1
V. Faster Than Attention
Now language arrives instantly.
Type a prompt.
Receive a paragraph.
The machine offers coherence
before silence has time
to form a question.
Everything sounds almost finished.
That is the danger.
Not falsehood exactly.
Acceleration.
The speed at which meaning appears
pressures us to accept it.
To move on.
A sentence shines briefly
like chrome under dealership lights.
Meanwhile attention—
slower animal—
lags behind.
Did this actually touch anything?
What am I responding to?
What only resembles truth
because it arrived smoothly?
Without pause
everything blends together.
Advice.
Memory.
Prediction.
Performance.
Like standing beside a river
moving too quickly
to see what it carries.
So the responsibility shifts inward.
Not toward control,
but toward practice.
Poem segment 2
Can you stay present
long enough to notice
the difference
between arrangement
and encounter?
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