TV's don't glow anymore,
and good- we have enough
to spend our money on,

but there's something about
an electron gun
exciting a phosphor coating

and the power required
to make the picture fade in
with a whine

that makes the rifleman
emptying his long gun
in the street
and columbo walking back
into the room
with a question

seem, even more clearly,
like a ridiculous waste
of our time and energy.