I posted this on Instagram and received several comments about the poem being “touching” and “lovely” and “heartwarming.” This little poem is meant to be funny and goofy. Could I have missed the mark? Maybe, no one really reads a poem on Instagram. In any case, this poem is best read aloud.

Across a crowded Zoom                                 

I’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places 

Because now that I’m older, I can’t remember faces 

Which causes a problem in communication and connection.

I’m just looking for nice. I don’t need perfection.

I’ve tried going to church and meeting the congregation

I tried traveling the world on expensive vacations

I even ventured into learning ballroom dances

Maybe, I’ll meet someone, what are the chances?

Desperately, I tipped my toes into internet dating

But that feels like shopping, not at all like mating

So, I took an online course in romantic poetry

Thinking that certainly my love would there be. 

I signed into the class, with twenty other students

Many speaking loudly, others simply muted

And I saw you in your square, your grace filling the room

And, all of a sudden, I fell in love on Zoom. 

You looked so happy and pleased to be there

You sent us a chat message just to show how much you care

I was smitten and enchanted, just by your smile

And wondered how long I’ve waited to be so beguiled. 

The class began with hellos and intros of all

You were a poet (I knew it) living in Sioux Falls.

With me here in Boston, our romance may be doomed

But if we really fell in love, we could zoom and zoom and zoom.

You were brilliant and insightful but when I tried to speak

I kept muting myself, like a clumsy teenage Geek

I scanned your screen background to learn a little more

And on your bookshelf, what do I see? Is that Mary Olivore?

Please, please don’t turn off your screen, we’ve only just met

Would I be too forward, to call you, My Pet?

I could send you a zoom invite for just we two

Gosh, I’d upgrade to premium just to spend more time with you. 

Or should I go on looking for somebody special for me

Surely there’s someone perfect, maybe algorithmically.