Vicki Sher, Willow , 2018. Oil pastel and pencil on drafting film, 36 × 37 in, 91.4 × 94 cm. Courtesy of the artist and frosch&portmann.

Vicki Sher, Willow , 2018. Oil pastel and pencil on drafting film, 36 × 37 in, 91.4 × 94 cm. Courtesy of the artist and frosch&portmann.

 

Neighborhood Television Station

by Callie Garnett

 

I give an expression of care everyday to each child to help him to realize that he is unique. - Mr. Rogers**

 
 

You probably know this already but
Video tape
Was invented for TV
To set it free

A friendly-looking pirate rolls out
A baby carriage full of gear
Another pirate lugs a bulky
Panasonic through the grass
Maybe a Sony Portapak

I don’t know
Most things aren’t worth describing

They are both neighborly & invasive
To let the kid dress like a turtle
And leave his hesitations in
(His mistakes)

And though his look brightens
Hesitant still
He does not
Thrive with every question

Sometimes he utters a passionate set
Of ums
Like a truck
Backing up

And sometimes I get so jealous of the network
Spots not mine
Sore jealous
Though she gives her love so evenly

Published May 3rd, 2020

Callie Garnett is the author of the chapbooks Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (Ugly Duckling Presse), and On Knowingness (The Song Cave). Her poems have appeared in jubilat, the PEN Poetry Series, The Recluse, No Tokens, and elsewhere. She works as an Editor at Bloomsbury Publishing and lives in Brooklyn.

Born in Washington D.C., Vicki Sher received a BFA from Cornell University, an MFA from the University of Iowa, and is now based in Brooklyn. The recipient of a MacDowell Colony Fellows Award and a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) Fellowship, Sher’s work has been shown widely across America for almost thirty years.