Portrait of a Poet with a Console TV in Hand
Portrait of a Poet with a Console TV in Hand
Original Text
Ortiz, Simon J. Woven Stone. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1992: 78.
1I bought that TV at John's TV
2on College Avenue in San Diego
3and lugged it all the way home
4on the Greyhound bus.
5Sitting in Phoenix bus depot
6waiting room, TV sitting on my lap,
7I felt foolish as I watched
8depot officials grab an old man
9derelict as he searched dazedly
10into an open locker compartment.
11They pushed him reeling out
12into deadly stunning American city.
13At 12:30 A.M., there wasn't anything else on,
14just that already too late, late channel.
15I had known that I would be coming home
16but the TV-in-hand bit
17was an entirely new angle, and I think
18that it must have to do with an odd madness.
Publication Notes
Ortiz, Simon J. Going for the Rain. New York: Harper and Row, 1976: 40.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004