When we buy the best fitting jogging shoes
When we run against the time
We don’t do it for ourselves
Or our body
Not even our mind —

We do it for the smartphones
For the fitness apps
For social media
For the virtual community
Where more and more hate is spreading —

The so-called haters
Are just other media junkies
Trying to be best
On the app —

But are not —

At the very best
They are second best
But at least one other junkie
Is always better —

Or the app
Suggests
There is one
Perhaps it’s just a bot
And the algorithm is playing games
Because in case you might be best
One day
Wouldn’t you just stop running?

ONE DAY I get angry
When I’m sitting on my balcony
Watching people
But they don’t see me back
Because they only recognise
What’s going on in their smartphones;

ONE DAY I feel like laughing
When I’m watching young men running
Up and down the track
Sweating like a fish in its bowl
Second after second
Glancing over onto their smartphones
Checking for updates
For the big ten-thousand in steps
Or the huge twenty in miles;

ONE DAY it makes me sad
That this terrible toy
Is dominating the life
Of so many
Once interesting people.

        © Dominik Alexander / 2021