Wednesday, August 14, 2019



TV NEWS


Sugar
Flavor of all addictions
Slides like thick molasses
Coating our senses
Non-lasting pleasure
Even masochistic pain
Perhaps any habit can become destructive
Mine?
There are several
I'm human
But only guilty of acceptable obsessions
Like watching the ugly, disastrous happenings
Affecting us all
I know better 
Not true that no news is good news
Ignorance is not bliss
I am responsible for the energy I emit 
Thus, I must ingest healthy, happy nourishment
Instead I watch
As my spirit deflates
I watch
As my balance tilts
I watch again
Knowing the harm
Of consuming too much sugar





 (For Poets United.)
  

10 comments:

  1. I am right there with you, Myrna, deflating, discouraged with all the horrors.they keep us inundated in order to increase our feeling of helplessness, to keep us compliant. Denial is not an option. We need systemic change.when will the populace take to the streets? Hopefully at least on voting day.

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  2. "I think what television and video games do is reminiscent of drug addiction. There's a measure of reinforcement and a behavioural loop." Walter Becker

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  3. Ouch. How true it is. The news (particularly tragedies about which I can do nothing)sours my spirit and my nature and I ration just how much of it I see/hear. And turn to nature to sweeten the mix.

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  4. Excellent analogy. Yes, we must be careful what we consume in all sorts of ways. Your poem might be a necessary companion piece to mine, which is about what we emit.

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  5. "I am responsible for the energy I emit" I like when the poem takes a turn from here. Love the line so much.

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  6. I can remember coming back from holiday on a Pacific island and asking a friend "So what's happened over the last few weeks?" He looked at me and couldn't think of anything! Yet each night we get glued to the TV to absorb their useless information.

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  7. I love how you have interpreted the prompt. The comparison to sugar is perfect

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  8. I found I was struck with two different images... watching the news and watching cooking shows (particularly ones that focus on sugary snacks). Such a difference between the two... a sweet treat and a bitter pill to swallow. One is consumed pleasurably and the other we are force fed.

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  9. Perfect interpretation of this prompt, Myrna!

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  10. It's soul-sucking -watching all the bad news. I loved the constant switch between this and resisting (or trying to) excessive sugar. I felt as if I was switching channels between the 2!

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