The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 9/9/07

[BlueIris]

"To Television"

Not a "Window to the world"
But as we call you,
A box, a tube

Terrarium of dreams and wonders
Coffer of shades, ordained
Cotillion of phosphors
Or liquid crystal

Homey miracle, tub
of acquiescence, vein of defiance
Your patron in the pantheon would be Hermes

Raster dance,
Quick one, little thief, escort
Of the dying and comfort of the sick,

In a blue glow my father and little sister sat
Snuggle in one chair watching you
Their wife and mother was sick in the head
I scorned you and them as I scorned so much

Now I like you best in a hotel room,
Maybe minutes
Before I have to face an audience: behind
The doors of the amoire, box
Within a box—Tom and Jerry, or also brilliant
And reassuring, Oprah Winfrey.

Thank you, for I watched, I watched
Syd Ceasar speaking French and Japanese
Not through knowledge but imagination
His quickness, and, Thank You, I watched live
Jackie Robinson stealing

Home, the image—O strung shell—enduring
Fleeting than light like these words we
Remember in, they too winged
At the helmet and ankles.

—Robert Pinsky

[Droopy]

1. The Droopy semi-nightly response

I haven't watched TV in about 3 months. I didn't even bother to get cable when I moved into my new place. I'm not sure if I'm a better person for it or not. I still miss football, though.

[BlueIris]

2. I quit t.v. three years ago. Nothing on. I still watch bits and pieces of series,

like the Sopranos in re-runs on A&E, but nothing like the volume I watched before. Blech. That's like, thousands of hours of my life I'll never get back.

[BlueIris]

3. Kick.

[BlueIris]

4. Kick.

[BlueIris]

5. Oh, look, VIEWS. I love views. Thanks, Loungers.

[wildhorses]

6. i went without tv for over 4 years

turned it back on this may...i see i haven't missed much.

[BlueIris]

7. You definitely haven't.

[BlueIris]

8. Kick.

[BlueIris]

9. Kick.

[The Straight Story]

10. RE: the poem and TV

I see the poem as somewhat confused on TV - loving and hating it, and blaming it in some regards for the actions of those watching it.

I like TV (though I spend more time listening to talk radio and such) to some extent.

My poem on it:

Mystery box sitting where once stood a radio
Radio where once stood a father with his bible
My ears were opened first
To those outside my home

Then you came
With your biased views
Of how life should be
And you captivated the minds of us all

And now, we have the internet
Where everyone is the writer
And my mind again has grown
It has, once more, seen outside the box and walls

From hearing a single man's views
To seeing the views of a select few
Watching that expand to hundreds of channels and views
to today and millions of views

Pandora's box took my ears to new places
and as it opened further I feasted on it's pictures
finally, the lid fell fully open
now my hands write and others read, as do I read

You were a stepping stone
now sinking under your own weight
staying afloat only because you have become my tool
and not I yours

[BlueIris]

11. Yeah, this is one of Pinsky's more loosely focused ones. nt