Once a week my folks walked to
the Student Center and watched Milton Berle
on television. Later, they bought a small black-and-white
TV set from Sears Roebuck. It lasted for years and years.
After Grandma Nordhem died they handed it down to us.
Brenda watched it in North Carolina, with Baby Owen.
Probably the same jokes. The same commercials.
The same lies and bullshit. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize
for Literature, like Toni Morrison. It outrages his critics. It pleases
his supporters. Go, team. I voted for Obama. I believed in him.
Compared to the alternative. The lunatic fringe. The religious fundamentalists.
They are biting themselves in the stomach, howling at the moon, frothing at the mouth,
like mental patients. It's the best thing since instant coffee. Glazed donuts.