Flickering pictures
Images drawn deftly in gritty charcoal
More about my ancestors than me
Reminding of hardy root and stem
Lifting the listless bloom that is My life
My fortune, My happy times, My legacy.
When did black and white become color
A sudden wave making experience history
Flashing without mercy upon a screen
Unexplained, misunderstood, fragmented
Served chilled like some aspic tureen
To the unprepared and untrained palate?
Each face I recognize as true
Perhaps more ham than solid sustenance
Yet even caricature reflects reality
When displayed in vibrant Kodachrome
Carefully focused, edited, highlighted
Documental fiction at its most banal.
I join the numberless gathered viewers
Wondering why such drivel warrants attention
Why simplistic days and nights
Rivet uninvolved audiences so
When the reality is often pitiful, uninspired
Stuffed with all manner of small inconsequence.
