By Charlotte Wright

What was that dim hum
Come
Over the lines
Morse   Edison   Marconi
Tap_.Tap._Tap
Marvels of mechanics
Planned obsolescence in Philo’s picture tube
Buzz*Buzz*Buzz
Encasings rusted
Necessitating past casts
For that latest solid state slogan.
Hmmmm—Burma Shave, campgrounds and motels with
kidney shaped pools that really did cost 48 bits
Diners outrageous on Route 66
On the box in the corner of the front room

Walpole

Click

Rat-a*tat-tat in distant jungles
Johnny Quest my favorite black and whites
Just brush your teeth with Ultra Brite
Colgate will do for Captain Kangaroo
As James West knocks the girls out
Bewitched!
I dream of Jeannie, believe in Sgt. Friday the Monkees and the Banana Splits
I watch the man land on the moon and
I know I can boldly go where no man has gone before.
So sock it to me baby, Smothers that Tate lady
While I as rifleman trick or treat for cyanide laced pixie sticks
And razor blades in the apple of my violation
Peacocks Eyes and my ABCs

Costa Mesa

Datsuns, campers, slug bugs and station wagons
Eisenhower interstates
Travel rates go up
Shortages to pump yours own
And MPG are letters that mean something to me
A car? Maybe a guitar? On the Osmunds, Partridges, Jacksons
Oh Hong Kong Phooey eating pink panther flakes and
Wondering about scooby snacks, chevy vans, and the big red machine
I watch Mark Spitz win all the medals
As hooded men and Jews are in the news
After the latest gas war, Asian war, clandestine White House war
Fought by symbonisian and Korean armies watched
On Mash kept all in the family
Flip
To the Bradys where one day at a time Rockford fixes Quincy’s files
While Kung Fu walks, McCloud rides and Emergency saves the day
But if these are happy days and dynomite how come Chico?
AW Keith, throw it out the window
POP#%$* POW@*^% CRASH#$%*ZOWIE
Love, American Style

Pascagoula

The heavens are no longer held up by arrowed antennas
Eastern to Southwest United at the Delta
As Telstar bounces near and far
Destination Atlanta and TBS are letters mean something to me
Uncut movie on HBO and baseball every day!
Charlie’s Angels, Bruce Jenner, a peanut farmer and family
Take taxis to Dallas where cute guys in cars, copters and Sweathogs
Silver spoon the facts of life to different stroked white shadows
And I finally get that wascally wabbit
Puny
Like the 24 hour news hurray hurrah highjacks high jinx
Little Rascals and yellow ribbons
What we need is an actor to ride in and save the day
‘Cause now there are more than one box in multiple rooms
Get it in stereo! MTV now there’s some letters mean something to me

Lubbock

Cable boxes, VCRs and channels 48
Emulate a plethora of AIDS, love, sports and hate
There’s no more on the move with the sitters of the mind
We’re beings in a box where anyone can find
Happy Huxtables, silly Simpsons and raucous Roseanne are
Married with children who all tune in to watch their
Teacher lost in space
As 30 something L.A. lawyers in night court solve crime on
Hill street where Matlock always gets his man
In an oiled gulf where mad men with dark skin
Or Ireland to Scotland ‘til *POW*
On our own turf as Waco then Atlanta burn
And Oklahoma isn’t a Rogers and Hammerstein anymore
Aw, Keith, throw ‘em all out the window

AustinNashvilleTampa

Click

It was a clear and stormy day
Time for the infidels to pay
The world gawked in horror and glee
Symbolic felling of the land of the free
@$@$&$
Twin towers falling down, falling down, falling down
Twin towers falling down still the fat lady won’t sing
                                                                                sing
                                                                  sing
                                                     sing
                                        sing
                           sing
              sing
sing
Boxes here, boxes there, goddamn boxes everywhere
I can travel the world from my easy chair
Live my life by remote in my underwear
Legs, mind wither as I sit and stare
Hurry up please, its time
320 channels and nothing to view
Overstimulation and dull I rue
Letters so many LETTERS do they mean something to me?
History, Discovery, TruTV, Family, BET, A&E
Reality, Reality, REALITY blow it up with TNT….
( there’s sex on T.V.)
100 news stations are lying to me
Because I’ve seen the best minds of my generation destroyed in a fried egg this is your brain on drugs viagrabudwisermudslinging ad campaign
Huff some Weeds on
Hurry up please, its Showtime
Keith?

Rented Room

click
You see, we learned something today
click
Chef Jenny, you’ve been chopped
click
You’ve been voted off the island
click
church members claim the Marine’s death was due to America’s tolerance of
click
Welcome to pimp my ride
click
tortured and raped at least 8 women there before
click
An amber alert has been issued
click
on this the tenth anniversary of Columbine
click
have released him from the team for another failed drug
click
The fighting between Hamas and Israel has carried over into the third day
click
200 girls were kidnapped from their school to be wives for the terrorists
click
The passenger flight was shot down over the disputed area
click
were outraged over his use of the term legitimate rape
click
calling for his resignation after the sexting photos were found
click
The Sunni group claims responsibility for the bombing
click
Had gone to the store for an ice tea and a bag of skittles and was talking
click
click
Keith is dead

Coda

This is the city
Los Angeles, California.
Back around the turn of the century
filming studios realized that the moderate
temperature year round and scenic landscape
made for a perfect place to set up shop for the movie
and television industry. Many people come to Los Angeles
hoping for stardom but end up losing all their hopes and dreams. When
ever they take their aggression out on innocent television sets I go to work
I carry a badge
….still
Late at night, as I listen to the wind whistle in the trees
Still
Click
I watch Adam 12 in the heat of the night hoping for law and order
but knowing, KNOWING
Stimpy you idiot, you trusted Eric Cartman again?
And I jump into Mr Peabody’s time machine and POOF

 

For more exploration of the symbolism and meaning behind this poem, see the author’s commentary.

Charlotte Wright is currently a grad student in the MLA program focusing on creative writing. She received her undergraduate degree from Texas Tech where she majored in English and History. Besides writing poetry, Charlotte also writes short stories. She is a musician and has written many songs, several of which have been covered by other artists.

Photo from the Library of Virginia.