42 responses to “Why leave the TV on?”

1. The truth — so elusive in so many ways. Turn this way, that way…when our googles really only produce results that some mysterious “being” has tailored to our past queries, likes and dislikes. “Research” on the internet is therefore skewed according to who we are. Ah the mountains do indeed shroud themselves in fog!

   • Yes… and now I need to write a second one that’s more positive

2. Love the ending lines.
   And as for the title, I like how it asks more, that there’s more to life than a rectangle in the living room.

   • Sometimes we need to find the view of mountaintops without the fog of false news.

3. Love this, Bjorn. So good to be back, and to have you back. Love the bottled/jarred thing you’ve got going on here.

   • Ha somehow I felt the bottle and the jar fitted together….

4. I know some people who leave the TV on from first daily news to after mid night – they may cut the sound off at times but the images continue. I’m screaming into empty space, I scribble words with watered ink…sometimes our efforts seem so wasted, so diluted, like silent screams into a pillow. Great to read you again.

   • Ahh… yes I wonder if those in need really reads…

     • No. the TV is on….

5. I’m screaming into

   empty space,
   I scribble
   words with watered ink.

   I can relate to these words. It often feels that way.

   • It does… and all of the sudden you realize that people do listen.

     • Oh yes. There are few who do. Who can decipher the watered words as clear as we felt them when we wrote it.

6. A poignant piece, it really makes me think. What captures me most is the title line, because I see it as an echoing scream and I can relate to it. My parents would NEVER, without exaggeration, turn off the TV in the house.

7. How come the truth is
   neither no nor yes?

   Especially loved the lines. There are so many shades in between truth and lie…

8. I can feel the frustration bottled up in this piece. Nice and tight!

9. Yes, indeed, why leave the TV on? I feel that jar will explode any minute…

10. Oh this is so very vivid and intense!

11. Good questions.
    I sense your tension.
    Things are never as clear as we would like them to be. The media offers simple answers – reality is more nuanced.

12. Leaving the tv on is another way to avoid your ‘real’ life and not have to attend to it…or the fear of being alone with your own thoughts. Many are really afraid of that. I really like this, Bjorn…made me think, and love your photo. Is that a cairn there in the forefront?

13. Oh the use of empty space before “empty space” so perfect. I feel your watered ink. The tears of what’s real clashing against what’s being called “reality”.

14. The watered ink is so descriptive here. It opens so many possibilities. Reality is so uncertain. Trueness is coloured by so many factors that mask it.

15. Sometimes I don’t know the truth anymore when I watch TV so I hardly open the TV now. A good choice of word for the Quadrille Bjorn. And that photo is stunning~

16. I hear you man. Not a lot of entertainment in TV today. Well said

17. Some days, everything jars!

18. I found this piece thought provoking.

19. Why indeed!
    Thanks for this prompt.

20. Sounds like your were winding down — nothing a good night’s sleep could not fix.

21. Enjoyed the insight between the lines. It seems the truth is not a priority anymore for the media.

22. ooooooh. the depth of this poem is admirable. great points, well said.

23. Great lines, Bjorn:
    ‘I’m screaming into

    empty space,
    I scribble
    words with watered ink.’
    I know this feeling well and wrote something similar. We scribblers are experts at screaming into space.

24. love the analogies and yet also they have a place in the factual world – never stop asking questions.
    Evidently you have returned fresh and full of impact – the structure of the poem says as much as the words

25. This wrings sweat out of the refrigerator. It is that intense.

26. Pingback: Wishful Thinking – Doodles and Scribbles·

27. Reflective piece, Bjorn. Sadly, mass media have been more of a bane than a boon these days.

28. That last line. Wow! Our perspective is so shaped by what we see in the media (and how often erroneously?)

29. Truth or the illusion of truth? It’s enough to make a sane man scream in anguish. I really loved this poem. It seems to speak for me. I’m sure many feel this way.

30. We don’t realize how distracting the noise from the tv is until it’s turned off – first time for me in weeks as my children are back to school! I didn’t realize how bottled up and jarred I was feeling but now I’m free 🙂 Great theme, Bjorn and lovely poem!

31. Personally, I don’t even like to watch the news anymore, it tears me up inside. I think the news only gives us half the story. Some days it is better to turn it off.

32. Turning the TV off may be the first step to peace…the news is often jarring and scream-inducing. I’d rather open a jar of your poetry any day 🙂

33. “I scribble words with watered ink…” it resonates.
    And I am loving your photo, by the way.

34. Agreed! It is much more peaceful, in these jarring times, to spend more time with the television OFF!

35. That image of watered ink is so bang-on. We do live at a time, when the ground seems to be shifting, daily beneath our feet. Why leave the TV on, indeed.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.