246. branching out
at 41
when I were a lad
a telegraph pole stood there
that oozed tar in the summer sunshine
– a magnet for kids with lollipop sticks & clean white shirts,
and next to it, the television tree,
well hidden, but everyone knew of it,
and come autumn, a free for all.
picked too soon & all you had was black & white –
too late & the colours had faded;
– and there’d be windfalls on the pavement too –
spewing out resistors & capacitators & test cards & stuff
– but time it just right
and you had it sorted – 625 lines and all.
Nowadays, down at the garden centre,
they’re grafting new stock onto old
and they come in all sorts –
LCD, Plasma-Screen, HD-ready
you name it, you got it.
They’re even branching out
reviving stuff we haven’t seen in years
& fruiting Bakelite radios, Goblin Teasmaids, balaclavas,
Fablon & pipe racks, net curtains and donkey stones.
Latest thing is i-pods;
and inside,
a row of shiny black seeds
& some of them notoriously fickle dilithium batteries –
I give those to Scotty – I don’t know what he does with them.