bronzed baby shoes
sharing dust with rabbit ears
and the evening news
is all she hears.
a human voice
explains another choice
of how it's going to end:
not with a wimper
but with a test pattern. [fade to black]

II.

Counterfit Reality

it comes like sudden death
angry dancing dots on the screen
and electronic waterfall rushing
white noise:
the cable is disabled.
the customer service phone tree
is busy and the answer
if you get it
is, "We're working on it."

the years that you've invested
in 60 minutes solutions
mind mushing commercials
and emotional investment
in characters whose fictional
lives defined you
since you were first seduced
by its cyclopean eye-
all those hours you can't get back
like the brain suckers in "Day of the Trifids"
television has become
an extension of your nervous system.