Friday, August 22, 2008

A TV, A DVD Player And A Cloud Somewhere Above Me



By my bed I have three remote controls.
One is an all-in-one that is designed
to replace the other two. However,
each of the other two has one or two
special functions the all-in-one can’t do.
So for most things I use the all-in-one
to save wear-and-tear on the good remotes.
But I can’t put away the good remotes
for safe keeping because I always need
some obscure function only they can do.
Throughout the day, then, when I move around
I try to keep all three remotes with me
because if I just have the all-in-one
something always will come up and I’ll need
to access some obscure special function
of the TV or DVD player.

*

I sometimes suspect my life is messed up
because somewhere above me on a cloud
an angel is sitting back, looking down
and next to him he has a whole table
piled high with remote control devices
and as I go through my day my angel
is up on his cloud watching over me
but when I get to key situations
he grabs a remote and points it at me
but when he presses a button nothing
happens because he grabbed the wrong remote.
So I don’t get the job, don’t get the girl,
don’t find my shoe, just miss the lottery . . .
And my angel is up there on his cloud
pressing buttons, tossing aside remotes,
grabbing new ones and pointing them at me . . .
I suspect, too, he might be not changing
the triple-A batteries when they’re low.













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