you are a radio

I am stalling for more time to complete further essays, so I am offering you one of my poems this week:


YOU ARE A RADIO

Whose circuitry can be positively or negatively affected

according to which station you're attuned to

You have no off button

and you are always attuned to one station or another

You have the power within you to change your station

to one better and healthier

There are powerful forces at work to keep you

from understanding this choice

by enslaving you to expedient pleasures

making Stillness the enemy

as they offer their wares

as the antidote to your boredom and restlessness --

all the while selling these wares as essential

to your liberation and "individuality"

(liberating you from your inner life

and the conscious capacity you might otherwise have

to master your "radioness")

so that you will be uwittingly attuned

to what these forces want

while they avoid the scrutiny that they

would otherwise have for your circuitry

or the competition they would otherwise have with

other, healthier radio stations.