Social Network

What is this obsession with staying connected
to all these people we pretend to know?
Where comes this infection
of rote and inflection
as online relationships grow?
I know you by profile,
and you know me by mine,
but what are these but code to be viewed at the source?
We stick together by gossamer threads,
pass one another awkward in the halls:
a tenuous connection that give only the most indistinct window to your lives.
Some would use these words to recreate themselves,
while others bear their souls,
keep you updated,
keep you out,
draw you in.
And when we meet outside the screen,
well, where do we begin?