Algorithmized

Before the digital age blossomed,
Before Amazon algorithmized our lives,
Before our journalism and our authors 
	became fully curated 
	– – a miserable commercial word –
Before all that

One of my regular pleasures,
Was a weekly visit to
Some current favorite 
	news-stand.

Perhaps it was parked in a bookstore,
Or was an opened air kiosk,
Or on a sidewalk, sun-shaded,
The racks mounted
	on an exterior market wall,
And only occasionally, 
	since this is LA,
Was it weather screened,
Ten days maybe out of the year,
	to shield
	Magazines
	Newspapers
	Journals
	Weekly news
	Vanity periodicals
	And all the rest 
		from the rain and wet.

Different stands had different modes.
Some well organized:
Art here
Auto there
Housekeeping and home beautiful 
	carefully arranged,
Business journals 
	properly positioned.
Sports and muscle and cars all next to the cashier.
Opinion, science, the thoughtful chin strokers
	down the rack,
If you wanted those
	you wouldn’t pick up and walk away,
The adult stuff carefully kept under wraps —
How innocent those were to what
	our digital times spew!

Some stands were a compete muddle,
Organized,
If you could call it that,
	by color,
	or date,
	or size,
	or some private, mysterious method.

Need I mention,
These actually were the most surprising,
Since it seemed that the purchaser
Had no idea of what they were buying.
And I had no idea of what I would find:
One-off sci-fi pulp,
A hot rod magazine from England (of all places)
Something in German, or French.
Arabic? Or Farsi?
I found a commercial agriculture magazine.
What was that doing in West LA?

One had a sign posted:
“This is a business,
Not a library.
Twenty minutes 
Max reading.”

I would carefully peruse the racks,
And pick out a selection
Of reading materials for a week or two.
Some I’d enjoy;
Some would be boring;
Some quite exciting;
Some, usually the political, exasperating.
The best would get me a-thinkin’.

Now I’m digitally bombarded.
I’ve signed up for endless emails
On really fascinating topics
And each email suggest another 35 links.
Who’s got the time? Or patience?
Or, at my age, the eyesight?

I spend my time deleting, trying to get
	to the ones I want to read.
It seems that I don’t read anymore. 
I delete
	newsletters
	announcements
	exhortations
	podcasts
	youtube links
	et cetera, et cetera
Mostly these are pieces about things 
	I already know about
	or have hard-earned opinions.

What I liked about the news-stand
Was the serendipity, the surprise.
The challenge, the gauntlet thrown down,
	since I already know
	what I already know
	I wanted to know
	what I didn’t know.
But I’ve been
	algorithmized,
And serendipity is 
	a casualty of the day.

Anyone have a link for
	the serendipity app?

14th of Av
Erev Tu b’Av
8 August  2025