Sathya Tadinada

Period 3

25 January 2021

Touchscreen: A Spoken Word Poem

Marshall Davis Jones’ “Touchscreen” is a spoken word poem about how people control

technology (or rather, how technology controls people). There are several ways that Jones

conveys the notion that humans have simply become extensions of the technology they use, and

how technology is rapidly changing the way our society operates.

My first impression of this poem was that it was crafted very well, in the sense that Jones

has incorporated good diction throughout the poem. Diction refers to an author’s choice of

vocabulary, and it has a very big effect on the literary work as a whole. An example of when the

poem has good diction is when he uses homophones. “It used to be hard to connect when friends

formed cliques / But it’s even more difficult to connect now that clicks form friends.” Jones used

diction to make the comparison between friends and cliques, but the way he did it was very

poetic and added lots of emphasis on the relationship between how technology has changed

society.

Another interesting device I noticed was his frequent use of repetition. Using repetition in

a literary work adds emphasis on the word(s) being repeated. Marshall Jones uses this device

throughout the poem. “iPod, iMac, iPhone, iChat… e-pills, e-trade, email, e-motion,

e-commerce… click to proceed the checkout, click to x out where our hearts once were…” The

repetition of the words “i-”, “e-”, and “click” shows how everything we do in our modern lives is

controlled by some aspect of technology, or will be eventually. In addition to serving his point
well, I thought that the repetition was very poetic because it helped the whole poem flow a lot

better.

Next, there were lots of examples of imagery that were very powerful to help me

understand the poem a lot better. Imagery is essentially creating a mental visual and can help the

reader understand the topics being talked about, and often “stimulates” the senses of a human.

The realism that Jones incorporated in his poem makes this future very chilling. “You would

think these headphone jacks inject in the flesh… Because now money can buy love for $9.95 a

month… I’ve uploaded this hug I hope she gets it…” All of these descriptions of how our lives

would change with technology, especially things like sending love over the Internet or buying

love online. This painted a picture in my mind of a dystopian world where everyone was

attached to technology, and it was a very chilling effect. It also helped me understand his point of

view a lot better.

In conclusion, “Touchscreen” by Marshall Davis Jones, is a very impactful poem that

demonstrates a potential future of humans being submissive to the very technological devices

that they created. Jones demonstrates this frightening reality through several literary devices,

such as diction, imagery, and repetition. He incorporates all of these devices in a very creative

and powerful way, and all of it combined helps the reader realize that the world we live in will

not be the same in a few years when technology is exponentially abundant and overpowering.