The News

Photograph: Sharron R. McMillan

You listen to it all day,
over and over,
the same gruelling stories
of human degradation.

Thankfully
you understand my need
not to hear it.
You plug your ears
with the sound
so that it goes
directly into your brain
and does not pollute
the whole atmosphere with its despair.

One newspaper
every few months pretty well does me.
I read it from page one to the end,
every page,
every article.
I check out what is for sale,
who is divorcing,
what movie stars are desperate for attention.

It takes me all day.
And then it takes me all week
to deal with the images,
thoughts,
imaginings
that surface from the reading.

How can anyone
read three newspapers a day
and not go insane.
How can anyone feast on the ignominy
that inhabits most headlines
and not despair
of the human race.

©Sharron R. McMillan