Television

We sit gaping at flashing screens
Yelling and screaming and hurling packages
Of sound and picture carefully crafted to paste us onto them. We
Often throw ourselves on it and yearn
For that ungettable nothing by switching
Channels rapidly like flipping through an
Uninteresting interesting book in the library
About to close. Torn between this yearning and
The guilt of having wasted hours, we overwork
Our fingers on the worn-out buttons of the remote,
The cheap Chinese batteries unable to comprehend
Our inability to discern. What do we want? The TV
Refuses to give us that. We forget that it only gives us
What they want to give us. Where is our choice? We sit in
Emptiness looking for the eluding fulfillment. God
Bless the TV! I think it’s not for me.