Downsized – Michael Roque

October 2, 2026

The status of our WhatsApp chats—
Inactive.
Headlines read
Thousands of job roles replaced.
Friendships being scaled back—
widely unreported.

Danielle,
my partner in discontent.
Your role, my role in our lives
have been downsized.
The answers to our bitching—
instantly automized.

Digitally,
today, in a two-way exchange,
I’m always the wronged one who’s right—
the good guy.
Our chatlog’s reduced to ‘How are you?’
‘Good’
‘Great!’
‘Goodbye.’