>[!abstract] >The "person on business from Porlock" was an unwelcome visitor to Samuel Taylor Coleridge during his composition of the poem *Kubla Khan* in 1797. Coleridge claimed to have perceived the entire course of the poem in a dream (possibly an opium-induced haze), but was interrupted by this visitor who came "on business from Porlock" while in the process of writing it. *Kubla Khan*, only 54 lines long, was never completed. Thus "person from Porlock", "man from Porlock", or just "Porlock" are literary allusions to unwanted intruders who disrupt inspired creativity (Wikipedia, 2025). >[!note] >We could easily refresh this literary reference to modern standards by coining an expression such as “push notification from Porlock”. No matter how remote your location, you will still get interrupted in your thoughts and concentration, but this time digitally rather than physically, and far more often too. >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): [[Romantic imagination]] >- **West** (similar): [[Writer’s block]] >- **East** (different): [[Flow state]] >- **South** (downstream): [[Fragmentary works]]