Honorable mention Poetry, Ben Templton

Panasonic (or TV with a God-complex)

I am the squat, dumb household idol
Forever ruling the family from my pedestal.
My subjects adore me ---
Stare at my shining revelations
Making silent votives with the talisman.

My power received through my forked tail;
The worlds I convey from other gods, through this black tether.
Unbelievers hurl their scoffing epithets:
Boob tube, idiot box.
But I am the glowing, blank faced god,
Pillar of the home.

My hypnotic flicker drones forever,
Yet my magic masks no meaning.
They’ll never know the happiness possible
When I am left as I see them ---
Dark eyed, still and silent.