wasteland

he sits down for the evening
in the same chair -
picks up his TV guide
and his pen -
he begins to look up the nights listings
and he marks them-
(even though he knows them all)
the ones that he will see until the end -
and he wonders sometimes
how it happened-
that his life regressed
confined to TV screens
and he wonders
when the conversations ended -
it seems at times
it was so long ago
that he went out with a woman
for the evening - or even with
some friends to hang around
he dismisses these incursions
to his habit
and gets out his remote
as is his practice
and begins again
his evening's slow oblivion.

Joseph A. Farina practices law in his hometown of Sarnia, Ontario. His poetry has appeared in the Alberta Poetry Yearbook, and in the newsletter of the Association Italian Canadian Writers. He won second prize in the Sarnia Observer "My Hometown" contest for his essay "My New Home Town." Several of his poems have been published in Green's Magazine and in Quills.

Email: Joseph A. Farina

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