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.