Television Noises

by Fred Aiken

I want to believe that there’s something out there on television

worth watching that won’t utterly bore me

or make me fall asleep

bright lights and sharp sounds speaking solely to me

while nudging further into stories

algorithmically chosen just for me

to blissfully blow my mind

so I don’t do it myself

whispering thoughts of how it gets much better

while desperately confounding me

with words of wisdom marquee across the screen

on wild nights of fictional synthesizing feats

from one world into reality

missed by one letter mistaken as a character

that dies this season

and the twist at the end is that I’m dead

or something like that