Sonnet CCCXXIX

I cachinnate at all our three-chord songs,

at all attempts to fit in and belong.

Derision greets the slogans that I loathe,

the mindless humming of our T.V. shows.

But I discover what we all have known;

I dig, display emotions all have known;

subscribed to trends, like all have done before;

subjected life to patterns used before.

For we are humans, similar and all;

restrictions bind us to a common thread.

We tread for freedom, hear its blatant call,

but realize there’s only us ahead.

And we’re so all alike, recycling,

as if there is no news but our dis-ease.

Sonnet CCLXVIII

I find the world today requires desperate aid:
- politics: all the world’s a-brew and needs its law
- environment: the world’s unzipping as it thaws
- economy: recession; wealth unfairly paid
- humanity: our bunch, becoming more abate
- society: all wanton with its plastic gods
- our health: destroyed with every fry in paw
- tradition: culture pasted over, blue and grey

When shall salvation rescue us from grief and strife?
Where is our superhero? Busy with his life?

What we can do is make ourselves informed and wise:
destroy our atrophy with pride and dignity,
imbued with purpose, duty, hospitality –
and only then can Earth be salvaged from us mice.

Sonnet CCXI

On rainy days, the ladders come to play with me.
They drop my player down a serpent’s cruel abyss
and make me wish that space was where I got to miss.
Alas I’m never petulant for long – for glee
is just a toss away. Surmounting ladders three,
I’m winning! But my brother’s close behind, amiss.
Then soon the tables turn and then my happiness
is fleeting as my fortune, dimming with each leap.

How quickly hours pass! What fun surmounts us here!
Perhaps I’ll play this game again, each day each year!

Alas, the rain subsides. The sun resumes its rounds.
The electricity comes back to all the lights.
But staying in our home, we watch the thudding pounds
of villains losing on T.V. in awesome fights.

Sonnet CCVII

With wild abandon, all the kids would run around.
We’d messify the basement like a big stampede.
We’d moo like cows, we’d screech like birds, we’d mount a steed
and fly like cheetahs, searching like a wise, old hound.
We’d play some board games. Bored, we’d board a couch and read.
And then we’d watch T.V. until we had to eat.
We’d go upstairs, complaining, making such a sound.

But none of us would eat a thing. We’d want to play.
For weeks we waited for this frabjous party day!

We’d run downstairs and raise a ruckus there once more.
We couldn’t tell how late it was – we didn’t care –
We only wanted fun and played our truth or dare -
but then they had to leave, departing out the door.

Sonnet CC

I used to live in Texas long ago.
The weather always shined so languorously.
In fall, there was a fleeting little breeze
and winter was a joke – there was no snow.
Our small apartment was beside a road
with palm trees bordering, so slim and high.
The flat was small and filled with moths and flies,
and cockroaches had pestered the abode.
Longfellow Elementary School was near,
and dusty baseball parks were near as well.
I came home daily, watching Spanish shows
and missed my mom, who wasn’t very near.
She studied in Purdue, said she was well,
and kissed her letters, sending lipstick home.

Sonnet C

While you were watching mindless T.V. shows
and playing games on dour computers too…
I babysat my brother, and I grew.
I turned sixteen, became a working prole,
Wrote three exams, each lasting three long hours,
(The subjects: counterpoint, then harmony;
the one I self-prepared was history.
They stole July and all my mental pow’r.)
I travelled to Toronto, saw a zoo,
I wrote a hundred sonnets (finally),
began analysis, new harmony,
and watched Olympic Games the whole while through.

And though achievement fills a holey life,
some say the Holy earn a better prize.

Sonnet LXII

That chocolate, melted on the tabletop
is not fondue. It's melted there because
you left it there. And now it's molten tracks
of liquid, sweetened wine of brown and black.

Don't lick it off - don't lick it off, I said.
Now get away, and turn the T.V. off.
And no, I will not play a board game NOW.
I’ve got to clean this up, so snub my vows.

My GOD! Why are the popsicles all there?!?
I told you, “Leave them on the plate – don’t touch!”
But noooooo…who disobeyed me? It was you!
You left them on the carpet, melting, too.

My brother, insolent and devious.
You charm your warden with your gentle kiss!

Sonnet LVI

It saddened me to hear my brother say,
“There’s nothing here to do without T.V.”
When I was his age I played by myself.
I had no siblings yet and made up games.

I read, I made neat crafts and music too.
Inventing things to play is what I did.
And now I use my creativity
To write these sonnets and play piano too.

Alas! Will youth today not learn to use
Imagination as a tool and gift?
Will T.V. be all that they think is “fun”?
And reading, arts – will they be boring too?

Today’s society will atrophy
If life revolves around that damn T.V.

Sonnet LIII

Get up, you lazy spawn of atrophy -
whose minds and bodies have no dignity.
You idle products of our selfish kind -
shut up, stop eating, talk but sensibly.

Please leave, and send us all to joy
You don’t deserve the treatment you employ.
We're worthy, but we rot and wait for beds,
While you take all, while you still do annoy.

It seems that folly and obesity,
Induced by sugars, fats, and dull T.V.
Beat brains and diligence and kindness too -
While purity has left society.

All lazy, stupid, ignorant, and fat.
What pulchritude! I can’t compare with that.

Sonnet XLIX

Let’s watch what little children see all day:
Those shows corrupt in content and in worth;
Cruel characters who sell crude violence
And constant ads for junk that to them pay.

Let’s see what adult females watch to-night:
Their soaps and scandals, filled with quick divorce,
“Celebrities”, promiscuous lives, and sex.
Thoughts slovenly, in every single plight.

Let’s view what patriarchs might watch to-day:
Their “news”, all biased, but believed as fact;
Those headlines, changing viewpoints constantly,
But recognized to keep all fears at bay.

Ah, television, foul, enticing ruse.
Through you morality and wit we lose.

Sonnet XLVI

Stupidity is almost advertised
In television, comics, magazines.
The media would love to show some witless guys
While brilliance, brains, and intellect are snubbed!

First, die you wretches of the media!
For making me an outcast for my brains.
Next, die you wretches of the media,
For making people think marks = smarts.

Third, die you wretches of the media,
Promoting laziness instead of work.
Last, die you wretches of the media,
For dulling us and killing diligence.

The media – that junk that dulls our minds.
You filth, you frauds, you fakes, you snobs, you swine.