The Everywhere of Nowhere
                    By Odin Roark

His trembling fingers press remote buttons,
finally pausing on…

The News Channel.

Breaking News " Many dead,
as ordered by chests of ribbons and medals,
faces emulating executioner masks,
crusaders of jihadist-style black gowns,
man’s all-encompassing human ant hill,
frantic with hate and holiness.

The Problem Solving Channel

A stoic President speaking reprisals.
The ghost-piloted drones,
the magic answer to hostilities.

The Re-Run Channel

His despondent fingers traverse his face,
where annals of imbedded scars pulsate
like shrapnel shards once removed,
leaving behind repressed memories refusing to die,
reminders that life’s combat remains forever alive.

The History Channel

So many mirrored yesterdays.
Smiling neighbors once happy like him,
knowing all too well how history truly repeats itself,
its legacy forever ready to lick the corners of its bloody lips,
even when there is no blood…temporarily.

The Pay-Per-View Channel

Battling for fame and fortune,
opportunity’s caged bare-fisted men and women
pounding one another in between hungry kisses,
ripping off each other’s clothes
as hordes viewers and fans scream “Get it on!
Get it on!”

The Dark Channel

His finger presses the final button.
inviting the opaque screen of assurance,
that super natural attestation
where without sound,
picture,
or Network Sweeps,
heaven is always in waiting,
that other make-believe promise of peace,
forever vying for ratings.

Eyes close,
his feared reality will visit him in his dreams again.

He dozes off.