I Am a 21st Century Man



I am a twenty-first century man
My head is screwed on far too tight
I spend all my daytimes on Instagram
Then tweeting on Twitter all night.

I eat little food and I use little fuel
I take all the latest advice
No meat and no fish in my dinnertime dish
And for breakfast I eat only rice

I'm ever so thin, as I work in the gym,
Spending hours on the rowing machine
Lifting weights every day and in every way
To keep my lithe body quite lean

I'm so busy I choose not to listen to news
I get all I need from the net
I never take sides on big issues, besides
There's no point in becoming upset

The climate I know is going to go
Into something unpleasant quite soon
I do what I can to recycle tin cans
While downloading podcasts on iTunes

I'd travel by bus but it just isn't us
So I walk or I ride on my bike
But when holiday comes I use hundreds of tons
Of carbon to go where I like

Then I spend all my days, I lie and I laze
On some other poor country's beach
And I soak up the sun and indulge in the fun
With my phone never far out of reach

And when I get back with my skin nearly black
And my credit cards maxed to the hilt
I return to my ways, in my mirror I gaze
With never a soupcon of guilt

I don't think much at all and I hardly recall
What I read or I see every day
I live in the now and I never know how
Other people live some other way

I do all that I can as an up-to-date man
To keep up with the moods and the trends
I've no time for the past for there's nothing that lasts
My beginnings too soon become ends

So don't ask what I need or how I succeed
In staying so charming and free
I've no mind of my own but I own a smart home
Which is all that much matters to me.

Will I soon have a wife or the rest of my life
Spend my years in my world on my own
I'll have plenty of fun with almost anyone
I can find through the apps on my phone

And when I am done with almost anyone
I will know that it's time to move on
There's nothing that's real, at least that's how I feel,
And I know all too soon I'll be gone

I am a twenty-first century man
But I rarely sleep soundly at night
I try to keep up all the contacts I can
But I feel that I'm losing the fight
I try to keep up all the contacts I can
But I feel that I'm losing the fight
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Submitted by alanbthomas on February 11, 2020

Modified on March 14, 2023

2:30 min read
94

Quick analysis:

Scheme Abcb xdxd cefe xgxg xxxd xhxh diji xkxk xfxf alxl xxcc xmjm jxxx AbABAB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 2,177
Words 481
Stanzas 14
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6

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    "I Am a 21st Century Man" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/52445/i-am-a-21st-century-man>.

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