Flat

Dying is the new spectator sport.Late night hospice T.V. takes a bunchof old losers and makes them stars.In the grocery stores little kidsare buying their trading cards.Geezers on covers of magazines.Hospital gowns the new in thingto wear strolling Newbury Street.Electromagnet machines issuetheir reports once every second,and the outlook is bright:death rests comfortably on the horizonas a new crop of die-rsenjoys their last rites and teawith preacher/producers who praisethe Lord for the money in mortality.Each night my grandmother and Isit on the couch and give the setall we’ve got. She leans forwardand squints. The wrinkles in her facecarry her message across. The linesin her face carry the message across.____Chad Reynolds was born in Oklahoma and lives in Boston. More poems from his series, Lines, can be found in Octopus Magazine, RealPoetik, Redivider, Sawbuck, and Verse Daily; other work is forthcoming or has recently appeared in absent magazine and Diagram. His chapbook, Victor in the New World, is just out from Rope-a-Dope Press.