Couch Potato?

August 18, 2018

Wide eyes open like floodgates

Hours pass as I stare, rapt

Absorbing, experiencing

“You watch too much TV”

They see a weakness, a rotting mind

But inside my brain is alive and leaping

Learning how to live, how to love

Hot, inadvertent tears splash on the screen

I feel every death, every gunshot, every fall from a tower

My body shakes with wheezing laughter

As I react to office shenanigans and sitcom sarcasm

Every genre is a flavor

I roll them on my tongue, savoring the taste

A critic of high esteem, I fiercely debate

Cinematography, dialogue, plot, character, and world-building

I watch hundreds of people, in different universes

Command kingdoms, betray allies, fight for their cause

I see the world through a million perspectives

I am small, but my universe is infinite

I am shaped by what my wide eyes consume

Greedily devouring episodes and seasons

The constant background music to my life

Showing me what not to do, who to be, how to live

And even when poisonous words are slung

And bitter fights leave us irreparably torn

The characters and stories we experienced together

Bond my sister and I and unite our hearts

So where would I be without my shows?

Would I be as strong, and wise, and worldly?

Would I be as confident, and insightful, and compassionate?

It doesn’t matter

I am these things and so much more

I am a grateful product of the television I have seen

And the lives I have vicariously lived

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