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      August 23, 2022You Are Being TrackedDevon Balwit

      as you read this poem. At the end
      you will be given a productivity score,
      the measure of how deeply you engaged
      with the content. Did your gaze rest
      on the clever line breaks? Did you
      notice the assonance, the consonance?
      Did you have more than one tab
      open at a time? Did you skim?
      The camera [please uncover it]
      will take pictures of your face at intervals
      so the program can evaluate
      your emotive response—is there more
      disdain than appreciation? Is there
      jealousy? You will see how your score compares
      with that of other readers. Upon finishing, you
      will be directed to the poet’s homepage,
      where the best readers know
      how to show love. Be aware
      that any complaints or evidence
      of non-compliance will prohibit you
      from future involvement with this site.

      from Poets Respond

      Devon Balwit

      “Both this week’s New York Review of Books and today’s New York Times contained scary stories of how workers are being surveilled at work—not just Amazon or UBER workers, but office workers and so-called professionals. This goes way beyond what websites they are visiting or how quickly they are keyboarding—eye motion, taking photos of their faces and posting them to the team, paying them based on some opaque productivity algorithm rather than a set salary. I read the NYRB article through, but abandoned the Times article when it told me that as I was reading, this type of software would be running, and I would receive my own productivity score at the end. This made me think of what it would be like to read poetry under such conditions.”

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