{"id":444,"date":"2026-02-10T16:48:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=444"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:48:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:48:40","slug":"friction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/?p=444","title":{"rendered":"Friction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
F-r-i-c-t-i-o-n
Surrounds us
Seemingly arbitrary 
yet heavily enforced.

For all the promises 
of instant gratification 
So often our lives 
roil with delay and frustration.

Burrs in the channels
Deadlines and penalties.
Fine print and asterisks
Actions pending review.

Extra steps and offshoots
in the process,
loop-de-loops in the tubing
\u2014never linear\u2014

Pressure building on keyboards
Sixteen cumbersome screens 
separate us 
from the Submit<\/em> button.

Please hold! 
Our call volumes are unexpectedly high.
You are Caller Twenty-One.
Please wait to be transferred
to the next representative.
<\/em>
Evergreen promises of
Change is coming!<\/em>
from our appointed or acquired leaders.
More to come tomorrow!<\/em>

We face queues everywhere,
virtual, physical and systematic  
that keep us ever expectant
while our hope flags and falters.

This hang-time is intentional
The system designs it so.

The longer humans 
are caught in the waiting game 
the more we risk diluting our senses
and numbing our defenses.

The apparatus is built
to distract and bore us
until we:
       shrug our shoulders
             acquiesce
                   close our lips
                           log off
                               go home.

The abrading of our purpose 
is the point.

Winning 
is not supposed to be easy.

But if we are privy
to the art of the game
then we can preserve
focus and succeed.

Look around to detect those
treacherous rough spots
that surround us and
then wield your rasp with gusto.

Grind down the cat tongue edges
and snarly barbs
where our clothes snag
and minds catch.

Be keen to the traps
that still our spirits
and then disarm them wholly.
Clear the course for those who follow.

Turn the rough friction we face
on the saddles of our status quo
into free-flowing ingenuity 
towards a kinder way forward.
<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cFriction,\u201d a commentary on business and social processes, written February 10, poem 041 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":450,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}