Webcam: A Manual 

by Chloe Martinez

 

Page 1: Know your product

 

1. The eye of god.
2. Insert message to the beyond here.
3. A shape contains us / we are shape containers.
4. Monolith: on certain days at the moment the sun hits it at a precise angle, revelation.
5. This is the privacy cover there is no privacy—
6. You are here. You are here. Come back to the breath.

7. This is the instruction booklet. Hold it in your hands. A language no one can read any more.

 

 

Page 2: Thank you for buying your C930e!

 

You want a guide; you wish to know where to begin.
You’ll need to gather the following:

kusa grass
smoke
one ripe tangerine
your birthstone
the photographs of Helen Levitt
embroidery thread
hand sanitizer
the soles of your feet
a flat stone warmed by the sun
&
&
&
The Snowy Day
scallop shell
wool shawl
three button-holes
the number of your personal, retail or corporate tech support help desk.

 

 

Page 3: Setting up

 

 

1. place yourself

in front of the
camera in front
of the camera in
front of the camera
in front of the camera
in front of the camera in
front of the camera in front
of the camera in front of the cam
era in front of the camera in front of
the camera in front of the camera
in front of the camera in front
of the camera in front of the
camera in front of the cam
era in front of the cam

 

 

Page 4: Getting started with video calling

 

 

Both you and the person—
To begin your video—
The person you call must—
Calling experience both—
Use a video to begin:
Application download
full 1080p then

silence

Please check the person
you call
check your living body
birdsong
taste with your tongue
the chocolate in the back
of your teeth

a minimum of 2 megabit upload

requirements may

vary; speed is required.

 

 

Page 5: Troubleshooting

 

 

 

– is it that you’re tired
– is it that they said that crazy thing on the news again
– is it financial
– is it your mother’s fault
– is it the air quality—wait—if you are having trouble
breathing, solve before proceeding
– is it fascism
– is it ambient noise
– is it your internet connection
– is it your gender your sex your skin your name
– is it all in your head (it’s probably all in your head)
– is the inside of the mechanism filled with dust
– is it that the machine is not actually designed for you
 
If your problem is related to any of the above, close your eyes.
Adjust the focus on your mind-lens.
Picture yourself floating in the icy waters
of the Pacific Ocean. Take on for yourself the body of an octopus.
 
If you are soft, if you have several hearts, if you move
like water itself, if you can change
your colors, if your very textures you can change, if you can be
like rock, like sand, like coral,
then your webcam is functioning correctly.
 

Kelp-colored, some days, you move freely down there.
You live only one year, but what a year.

 

 

Click here to access PDF version of poem.

 

 
Chloe Martinez is a poet and scholar of South Asian religions. She is the author of the collection Ten Thousand Selves (The Word Works) and the chapbook Corner Shrine (Backbone Press). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in AGNI, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah and elsewhere. She works at Claremont McKenna College.
 
 
 
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