Living Room Blues

I feel less lonely when I watch TV:
The heartbreak and the healing both go quicker,

And Marketing’s best minds keep courting me
As though my name were capping a marquee—

It might as well, since I control the clicker.
I feel less blue, too, watching: though TV

Can’t do much more than mute a tragedy
(The ten o’clock news scrolls its frantic ticker),

It compensates with ample comedy—
Reruns alone could last an eternity!

That comfort bathes me in its bluish flicker.
I feel less lonely when I watch TV,

Though lately not as often. When I see
My favorite sitcom couples snipe and bicker—

They used to smile, to beam, accepting me
Into their homes; now they seem less carefree,

And the canned laughter sounds like one long snicker.
I get so lonely when I watch TV,

Where everyone plays a part apart from me.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

A Critique of the New Right Misses Its Target

Robert Bellafiore

American conservatism has produced a bewildering number of factions over the years, and especially over the last…

Europe’s Fate Is America’s Business

Joshua S. Treviño

"In a second Trump term,” said former national security advisor John Bolton to the Washington Post almost…

A Commitment to Remembrance (ft. Andrew Zwerneman)

Mark Bauerlein

In the ​latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Andrew Zwerneman joins…