"Cookies" by Steven Myket

Cookies
Cookies are as good as pizza
Cookies are as sweet as sugar
Cookies are as warm as my blanket
I like cookies

"Cookies" by Steven Myket has a brilliantly constructed form, with which it manages to convey deep meaning inside an innocent metaphor, all with only four lines of verse.

We learn that the narrator feels cookies are "good," "sweet," and "warm." He also "like[s] cookies." The narrator comes across as deeply innocent, light-hearted, and pure. The cookie is such a comfort to the narrator, creating a warm environment as his blanket, drawing him back to the time in his mother's womb.

The question then arises, "What are cookies?" At first, you are inclined to take the easy route and define it as a baked good. But you cannot overlook the two other definitions of cookie. It's a slang term for a type of person, for example a "tough cookie." It is also a computer file that is stored on your computer by a website to keep a tab on you.

The slang term does not fit into the poem. However, the computer file does. It is "good" because it creates convenience for the narrator, not making him log into the same website over and over. It's "sweet" because it will remember his information for him. The "warm" describes the complacency of the narrator, who enjoys the cookies. He likes them.

But this has more meaning to it. The cookies are the way that the world is keeping an eye on his computer. He could easily be tracked through them by the government, an agency, or a powerful individual. The innocent narrator disregards these privacy issues and freely disposes of his singularity and allows himself to have a warm feeling of safety, as in the womb, despite his openness to being watched.

Likewise, society today has little problem with shedding privacy and individual rights to larger groups, taking convenience and warm feelings over all else.