I Hardly Ever Did

I Hardly Ever Did

I watched TV

Through birth, death and taxes

When I was the addendum

Or when it was my own mother

Or my own uterus

An organ saddled with far-reaching expectations

And sickness

I watched TV.

People came and people went and still

I watched TV.

In the hospital, a woman named Holly and I watched

Hours of this thing called Special Victims Unit

Every day

Even though a Vietnam Vet with delusions of grandeur

Begged us to change the station.

I watched TV every day of Summer Vacation for pretty much

My entire childhood but I vowed that the next day I

Would stop,

That I would take a walk or something,

But I hardly ever did.

Special Victims Unit