Watching The News
written by: Rick Howe
Watching the news
Watching the news anchors
with their
rehearsed
solemn dispassionate
tones
Hearing the disclaimer
‘Warning, this report
contains images
of the aftermath
of a chemical attack
a bombing
Of a massacre’
Indifferently
detached
by rote
for the fourth time this hour
And then the repeated report
delivered
breathlessly
by a correspondent out in the field
dust on their flak jacket
their face
‘PRESS’ marked in white on blue helmet
like some futile ward
against bullets, shrapnel
inevitably
Camera operator crawling at ground level
down amongst the limbs
and bile
to drive home the impact
But not too much
Images are frozen, blurred
before any reality too grotesque
is presented obscenely
on our HD LCD wide-screen 4K TV’s
Four times removed
from the wrecked bodies
we watch all this
dinner plates on knees
sipping wines
drinking beer, whisky
Coffee, tea
eating breakfast
whatever
Despairing gently
how awful
makes you sick
As a limp child is pulled from rubble
as mute shocked people stand staring
as human beings convulse in burns
in targeted hospitals
all captured for posterity
and renamed
‘stock footage’
Then the news moves on
to impotent institutions
where statesmen pontificate in vetoed meetings
at huge expense for a conclusion of cynical impasse
As distantly the sharks still froth blood over their kills
And we, in our guilty helplessness
maybe throw a coin or two towards a charity appeal
Because we are not desensitized
We still feel
As a traumatized child is everyone’s responsibility
And fear and pain is in every human genus
As is love
Still
As still is love
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Just watch the news, not so much the content, but the choreographed hollow dance of its presentation…
He hopes to reach as many souls as he can with his work, and maybe bring a little warmth to lives with shared experiences.
- She Moves Like Woven Silken Strands - July 25, 2018
- Rose - July 5, 2018
- Street Apple - June 15, 2018
