I Wonder
I wonder how many people in this city
live in furnished rooms.
Late at night when I look out at the buildings
I swear I see a face in every window
looking back at me
and when I turn away
I wonder how many go back to their desks
and write this down.
- I Wonder How Many People In This City, Leonard Cohen
I thought of this Leonard Cohen poem just now as I sifted through web server statistics. Not a natural match, I’ll admit, but somehow appropriate given the anonymity of the Internet.
Webloggers in particular can be a voyeuristic bunch, myself included, that often look but rarely reveal their presence. IP addresses, operating systems, and browser types. That’s what you leave behind.
I wonder what you do with these carefully crafted bits of insight engineered to reveal only that which I choose?
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But it’s worth pointing out the faces in the windows aren’t verified. Though the speaker’s extended verb phrase “I swear I see” might seem to lend weight to the observation-as though he’s testifying under oath-the emphasis has the opposite effect on this reader, suggesting instead that the speaker’s heightened sense of isolation and attendant paranoia have created the illusion of faces in all the windows. “I swear I see” is actually a weaker pronouncement than “I see”… (you see?) My point? I swear that no one on the Internet is paying any attention…. ;-)