Cat Up A Tree 2.0 Poem by M.J. Lemon

The local newsrooms get it
well, they get us.

We're bored by stories that involve
thinking about the future
contemplate fate?
Not this audience,
many news directors have said.

You could report on the
hard work needed to fix social problems
you could cover the difficult
choices needed to fix the economy
you could confront the reality of a
world ripping itself apart or
duck and cover
but not the kind you might be
thinking of

there's the soothing calming
nostalgia triggered
when one thinks about
the joy of discovering that
one cat video online
the one you thought was there
just to entertain you
not realizing thousands if
not millions stumbled across
what makes for a giant shared experience
a relaxed public boosting our likes
rather, ratings

Get me that cat
wait wait
that's too small
much too small
we need a bigger beast
a horse? an antelope? an elephant?
all too small

that's it!
a whale
but now do we get it up a tree?
We go down, not up
It's stuck
not up a tree but
in a lagoon
it's not about branches
but water
it can't escape

Peace and harmony
with all eyeballs glued to
the screen. The drama!
rage reserved for those who try
to free the animal.and fail

We're watching and
we'll do nothing else
demand nothing else
until the whale finds a path
to its ocean home

and then we're the ones
who will demand
Get me that cat!