Television Gods

Television Gods

When traditions were handed down

through the ceiling slices without warning

there just wasn’t enough to go around.

A castaway youth, confused

and seeking shelter in libraries,

found instead where others’ lives were buried.

Unable to read between the lines

there were times inspired by recitation,

dedication,

yet, always parts left out after assembly.

Whose parts are these, never claimed?

Then came the time when

Television Gods walked the streets

like two dimensional daydreams.

Now more of a man meant

only more to misunderstand.

Captured in mirrors, some stranger

I had never been introduced to,

echoed the dull laughter of crowds.

Seasons stripped of surprise,

passing through cat crossings

and coming to rest, finally,

where all of this began.

A lifetime lived for others when.

I could have been me.

August 29, 2009.

Arlington, Virginia.