Zoom Zombies

 We deal as zoom zombies

With joker poker faces

Expressing emotions

Pulled from emoticon cases.

Those tiny images that say more

Than our calm visage exudes

Hearts, claps and party hats

From our silent corner protrudes.

We appear on flat screens

Collages of moving wallpaper

Glued to lunchtime events

Devoured as digital party marker.

We are all skin bags

Inflated for short performances

Then sacks succumb to sag-ville

Until our next call-up appearance.

Beyond the glass eye lives lie hidden

Occasionally acted for camera paces

Or recorded for aural glimpses

Fridge magnets for social spaces.

When commando camera demands

Carefully curated surrounds

Shatter in real time clarity

Showing truth-revealing foregrounds.

Yet somehow our human zeal

Overcomes our zombie traits

With machine high fashion stakes

Mad memories we masticate.

Fingers composing messages

Embrace a threshold before sending

We consider one another to create

Web trails meshed and blending.

Poem written after another Zoom meeting. Image created using Nightcafe with the prompt "Camera zombies at a table"