two poems by brent goodman

Everything I Need to Know I Learned on Television


The definition of light
for example. Or that
I have no time for my
family, let alone prepare
a decent meal. Democracy
is a dangerous American Idol
when eliminating life partners.
TV's favorite cousins are
microwaves, drive-thru windows, Rx
fine print disclaimers. Everyone knows
it's impossible to quit smoking
or depression. A friend who designs
packaging for heat-n-eat dinners
technically answers to Wal-Mart. God
is a channel where we worship the choices
we're expected to make. Right now I'm watching
Life on Discovery narrated by Oprah Winfrey.
I'm hungry for something I don't keep inside
my house. Every commercial break reminds me
it's easier to be happy than I once believed.


--


Museum of Second Chances


On television:
the sky!

My chair-side book pile
tipped into a spill –

the new stray chews
on Buddha’s raised
wooden hand.

Between lives I hope to gain
a fresh perspective on revision.

The heart attack last year
was my first helicopter flight.

Inside my chest
I carried a dark red star
over the trees.



"Everything I Need to Know I Learned on Television" originally appeared in The Nepotist.
"Museum of Second Chances" originally appeared in The Coachella Review.


Brent Goodman lives and works in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where he's a copywriter, assistant editor for the journal Anti-, and an instructor with the Dzanc Creative Writing Sessions. His second poetry collection, Far From Sudden, is forthcoming this Fall from Black Lawrence Press.