New poem: WITHDRAWAL

I'm trying so hard to withdraw,

to untie the rubber tube

and wrench the syringe of cable news

from my veins.

Don't want to see the CNN Saturday anchor

smile every time she reads something 

off the prompter.

Don't want to see MSNBC hosts

named Lawrence and Ed

competing for who can get the most headlines

to fill the ratings void left 

when Keith Olbermann was unjustly fired.

Don't want to see Chris Matthews

saying things about Anthony Weiner

"sticking it out."

Don't want to see Anderson Cooper

being a puppet of his writers and producers.

Don't want to see Fox News

unless I'm in a doctor's waiting room

where I have no choice.

And, even then, I want a magazine

to keep me from being irradiated

by Republican talking points

and facts twisted like Silly Putty.

Don't want to watch HLN

and hear Nancy Grace

snarl about Lady Justice.

Or, for that matter, 

Doctor Drew and his endless quest

to present himself

as a sober-minded moralistic ambulance chaser.

I just want to tear out the needle

and the syringe

and throw them across the room

hearing the breaking glass of the syringe

and pronouncing myself

cured of propaganda and endless distraction

from the news that really matters.