An electronic gadget, shaped like a box
modern man’s perennial friend
completely mesmerised we are immune to the knocks
on the door, why it’s the latest trend.

In the confines of cramped walls, we
daily sweat it out, the exercise of doing channel-surf
watching Oprah Winfrey, commercials and MTV.
People here are certainly on home turf.

Research shows it makes us a couch potato
increases aggressive child behaviour and teenage crime
mother watches through the kitchen hole, cutting a tomato
no matter what, the unanimous verdict, it’s the best past-time.

The box shows the fizz of the soft drink
The flared nostrils of an angry soul
A constant reminder to visit the shrink
before you sink into a black hole.

But dinner time goes past, we watch with rapturous attention
critics may heap piles of derision
but these days, it is the one constant companion
Salute, the impregnable might of television.