Now That I have Cable
now that i have cable i feel
i am able to mainline culture
where before i barely
got a sniff. oh, i was able
to quote yeats or baudelaire or
know the details of the natural
world the way others
knew britney spears and tony
soprano, but the pictures
paled after a while, and i went
to the channels i hadn’t paid to get,
that were scrambled
but not enough so i didn’t
know what i was missing. and
that is why i now get the cubist
cocksuckers’ channel
and why i don’t feel
as if i am on the periphery any more
but i can step right up with my
hungry eyes on britney
and quote french poetry
to her blonde good looks.
if her head is empty, why,
mine is quickly emptying
too, and i say things like
what’s up with that? and everything
seems better, more satisfying
and infinitely more true.
by Robert Allen
from Jacket Magazine
October 2007