an ode to Facebook upon its IPO
a Poem by Yuri Kageyama

For moms, Facebook is priceless. How else are we going to find out what our kid away at college is up to? LOL. Pore over his posts, his comments on communities. Send friend requests to his friends, friends of his friends, even moms of his friends. LOL. Some moms have kids who ignore moms’ friend requests, and so they can look only at their public posts. No fun. My son is a musician so all his posts are public so a lot for me to read. Oh, good. He has a gig with another student. Oh, good. He is smiling in a photo he is tagged in. He has linked to a YouTube video of his performance at school. He is out jogging with his roommate. Fun. He has posted a quote by one of his teachers. Maybe he is learning something. Uh-oh. He is angry musicians have a hard time getting paid. He feels he can’t eat shrimp today. Maybe I should send him a check. He deserves to eat shrimp once in a while. Oh, great. He is writing out the score to a Kabuki dance piece, one of my favorites. Maybe he is learning something. He is quoting Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Maybe he is really learning something. But wait. The comment is about suicide. OMG. Is he depressed? Uh-oh. One of his friends at the same music school, who is now my friend, also has a horribly depressing post. Another says she wakes up petrified of her dreams. What’s going on? Was I like this when I was at college? Oh, right. People would be jumping over the gorge every week at Cornell. Oh, no. Maybe he is learning too much. I leave a comment for the friend with the scary dreams that dreams are ways to cope with reality, and she should just tell herself dreams are just dreams. Thank you, friends. They are telling him about teaching positions, to not worry too much about jobs while at school and are giving friendly advice, cheering him up. Maybe he feels better. Oh, good. He is back to posting an analysis about a musician’s sound. Oh, wow. I am so moved I may cry. He is now friends with his former girlfriend, the one who plays the violin, the one I thought would never forgive him, the one he broke up with after an abortion.