Pops, you watch too much TV.

  I feel convinced that I have now become a faceless memory,

  That only photographs will bring short-term remembrances of me.

 

Pops,

  Come watch me!

  I have many shows to entertain you with!

  I will tell you of my hopes and dreams,

  My award promotions and ceremonies,

  My horrific grades and nightmares that lurk my sleep!

  You could watch me laugh, cry, and be stubborn like stolen cookies.

  You will even shout at my small MMA fists giving breath into another person’s chest!

  And you could hear me scream in magical park rides!

Then,

  You could hear, see, and feel,

  The pixie dusts of my heart spark my first intimate trust in another man.

  This gentleman has been waiting to meet you!---

Pops! Hello?!

knock knock

Have you forgotten me already?

  Am I now a broken Home DVD packed away in storage boxes?

  That you’ve started opening the television programs?

These programs unfolded in front of your eyes,

  Before you’ve looked into my eyes,

  And before you selected me to watch my heart slowly reveal its inside…

Inside,

  It smokes prayers for intercession,

  It cries for a connection,

  It’s dying for a series of episodes of you and I having sessions of one-on-one connections.

 

So Pops,

  Will you please tell me about yourself?

I will take out my ear buds

  To have my ears bloom to the songs you’ve sung.

I will put my phone in my back pocket

  To call you by my voice,

  To hear your endless tall tales

  From your short body!

I have now made my service available,

  But first,

  Will you please turn off the TV?

 

Is it too hard to put down the remote control?

Does this explain why it’s hard for you

  To reason to your own children how to live?

Click

YOU’RE TALKING TOO LOUD THAT YOU CAN’T HEAR THEM.

Click

  Psst… the couch has become your bed.

Click

  Pops!... your thoat

  Has – been – croaking – like the boxing crowds…

Click

  You’ve lost control of the remote

  And haven’t used it properly.

Grasping and clicking this black stick Click

  Has become your muscle’s habitual memory. Click

They have remembered,

  But you have forgotten. Click

 

Pops,

  Let’s all tuck away our phone,

  The remote, and the TV;

  Let’s stack these in taped boxes;

  Stop giving those cable and electric companies money;

  And Let’s invest time with one another.

Yes, I know-

  It will be a pain as we itch for our electronics,

  But it’ll be comforting when we set aside our temptations

     And spend quality time with humans.

Tell me stories of you while in the Mother Land,

  And how she wrapped you and your 13 siblings in her green, abundant arms

  And I’ll tell you my stories

  Of how school swarmed me with numbers, words, and history.

May I hear of your countless childhood troubles?

  And I’ll tell you of my sassy, scratchy, fist fists.

Teach me about your first heartbreak? J

  I’ve never heard a peep of that before.

I want to hear your

  Fishing adventures

  So that you will become the “Big Fish” to me.

 

When will you one day confess,

  How much I mean to you versus the TV,

  How much your family means to you versus work,

  And Ma’s love, prayers, and dinner

  Compare to the TV…

 

Pops,

  speak to me.

  You’ve talked to the screen for too long

  That I’ve become a faceless memory.

Pops,

  You watch too much TV.

  Come and watch me.