Breakup 101

I sometimes wonder if the internet
was made for people to share
their 101’s with others
first came porn, stimulating the medium
just as it had with home cine film
then the cat lovers started sharing
cats doing the strangest things
long before AI allowed you
to craft such behaviours to order

Companies got in on the act
and no firm was complete
without its website
schilling its wares in
better or worse fashion
after all, you get what you pay for
with advertising and websites

Steadily, though, in the background
the democracy of individuals
shared their passions in ever more
sophisticated 101’s. How to make
kombucha, kimchi, and sauerkraut
How to do Tunisian Crochet and Why You Should
4 Ingredient Low-Carb Bread
seedy crackers, cottage-cheese cheesecake
recipes from every culinary tradition and country
liberally seasoned with adverts
As 101’ers try to monetize their craft

But where is Break-up 101:
50 Ways To Tell If Your Relationship
Is On the Point of Collapse
– is this too negative for jaunty bloggers
will it fail to garner followers
and accrue comments
old-timey newspapers and women’s mags
had Agony Aunts who responded
to readers’ letters
“Dear Joyce how will I know
If he loves me so…?”
And songs dispense wisdom
“There must be 50 ways to leave your lover”
“Should I stay or should I go now
If I go there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double”

Did the meme of inevitable collapse
fail to make the grade
on the World Wide Web
or am I just stuck
in the wrong silos…

© Andrew Wilson, 2026

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, paeansunplugged in OpenLinkNight, Uncategorized, invites us to submit a poem of our choice…
I wrote this in my writing group in the shadow of “My Mother’s Love” by James Allen Hall to the prompt, “Write about a time when collapse was inevitable…”