I have made a note
of what Mr. King wrote.
He warned: “It’s best to stay away!“
Listen, to what I have to say!
It’s eating your brains!
As if a Zombie.
Listen, if your wit remains,
I’m talking about T.V.
Yes the telly, the box.
Where you catch – the fox.
“It’s news to me.”
“Didn’t you hear me say-”
“I’ll read about it, see?”
“Well… Okay.”
(Now her phone’s ringing)
How good if she just- read on.
Instead what she’s viewing?
‘Her pic’ someone commented on.
“Why don’t you just listen
to me”, I said.
She threw a mug, caught, taken-
but with my head.
She was out! Out of my room,
Out of my house, out of my life.
Here I hoped a flower will bloom,
I’ll propose, and she’ll be my wife.
Ah! The beauty of pain.
Thoughts of her, in the rain.
Oh! no- not again. She’s back.
All my efforts, rendered, in vain.
**© Ali Qureshi
Inception of this poem (fiction) was inspired from the 6th tip among "Stephen King’s 20 Tips for Becoming a Frighteningly Good Writer", an article on smartblogger.com; where he discussed about how he cut his TV time short and did better by reading more instead.