"Home Entertainment"

More than convenient, 
   certainly efficient,
   and yes, certainly healthful. 

My new refrigerator is sleek, muscular, 
   and handsome, 
   looking like a college athlete 
   who took a summer job 
   as a bellhop. 

It's my very own Entertainment Center
   and It 
   insists that I don't need
   flashing X-mas lights,
   the internet, 
   or roving drones
   for my amusement.
But only to listen to the wonders of 
   Its daily life. 

And what wonders does my refrigerator behold!

Although brand new, 
   Its Collective Unconscious is vast
   and attuned to the life-giving contents
   that I buy for It. 

It gives voice, 
   yes voice, 
   to the sumptuous fare
   that would ordinarily sit obediently mute,
   waiting to be taken home
   like a row of forlorn puppies.  

I hear brightly colored bell peppers,
   gurgle and whisper excitedly,
   like frogs convening in a pond
   on the eve of Summer Solstice. 

I hear tortillas, 
   hovering and whining, 
   like UFOs in search of 
   intelligent life, 
   only to be disappointed, 
   again . . .  

I hear spinach,
   sighing, pleading,
   asking to live for just one more week, 
   one more day,
   with its vegetable brethren, 
   knowing its beauty is 
   fleeting. 

I hear eggs,
   knowing their fate all too well,
   speak in impassioned cries
   that echo the tent revivals of the
   turn-of-the-century Midwest,
   replete with shouting
   and dramatic healings. 

I hear onions,
   speak of their power
   to delight and seduce me into every meal, 
   like wolves howling at night
   in canonic incantation.

I hear frozen turkey burgers, 
   pounding and pulsating,
   trying to motivate resistant dancers
   into states of rhythmic exhaustion,
   men and (mostly) women glancing themselves in mirrors,
   while a trainer commands and cajoles
   over heaving music. 

Yes, I confess,
   I will probably get
   flashing X-mas lights,
   internet, 
   and roving drones
   for my amusement.

But for now,
   I am content
   to listen to the wonders
   of my Entertainment Center
   and Our daily lives. 

 

July 2018

 

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©2018, Michael Smolens