they don’t cover the suicides
or the overdoses
for fear it will only motivate
the names that also suffer silently
schools turned to shooting ranges,
dogs tortured with firecrackers,
nursing home residents
beaten to resemble rotten bananas,
and children raped by monsters of men
are great for ratings
are great for business
people love bad news
so long as it isn’t their news
murders with steak knives
murders with sulphuric acid
murders on interstate highways
peeking at the mangled metal
and meat
packaged in between
commercial breaks
and tomorrows weather
spoon fed views of a hopeless world
the weather looks good tomorrow