Such pictures fill my weekday world at five

Your pictures fill my weekday world at five.
The yellow crime tape flutters at the scene
Of yesterday’s event. You’re there, on screen,
Square-jaw’d Slick Goodhair, you’re reporting live.
But first, “Are you depress'd? Or weak, or dumb?
This pill, this car, this show, this boy, this chick,
This beer, this low-carb pizza on a stick
Will banish pesky thoughts.” Oh, bliss… I’m numb!
“Tonight! Police continuing their hunt
For signs of blue-eyed Dumpling Goldilocks;
But first, our Mayor Quoteworth talks and talks;
The traffic’s bad; no rain; replay that punt.”
That I may live in thee, secure and whole,
Stay on, TV, and teleprompt my soul.

My students are doing a Sonnet Slam tomorrow, and they asked whether I was going to contribute a poem. I hadn’t planned to, but I figured what the heck.

I had my colleague, Al Wendland, peer-review it for me.

3 thoughts on “Such pictures fill my weekday world at five

  1. That’s wonderful, Dennis. I love it.

    I tried to do something similar a few years ago, based on Ophelia’s monologue, but — while the first few lines felt OK — the rest was an abject failure.

    Now you’re making me want to go back and try again.

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