Digital Impasse
By Madeleine Begun Kane
My brain is packed with secret codes
To access all my stuff,
Like bank accounts and sundry cards.
Recalling them is rough.
I pay my bills online and need
A PIN for each of those.
My website has a password too,
Protecting verse and prose.
These letters, numbers, symbols mix
In ways to stave off theft.
We’re warned to make them quite complex,
Defeating hackers deft.
We’re also cautioned, “Vary them.
Don’t make your codes the same.
A thief gets hold of only one —
You’re screwed and you’re to blame.”
So ciphers clutter up my mind.
I dare not write them down.
With paper bearing secrets dear,
A thief could go to town.
I’m forced to hide them in my brain —
A codified morass,
Despite my fear that one day soon
They’ll flee my mind en masse.
(Prompted by secrets at Poets United.)
