From Family to Celebrity Life

In front of Phillips, I’ve been sitting

With my Panasonic, flicking

Between the gazes of a thousand eyes

But in more recent times

I’ve realised

That a million eyes

Stare back at those one thousand eyes

But maintain their familiarity

After all, if celebrities

Weren’t performing for us

(The audience)

Would they be performing at all?

Human beings help each other

But most of all when they are family

So in this mediated

Dichotomy

We’ve tried to draw a line:

Family Time and TV Time

But as the two become one

(And not just in dining,

But also in association)

Emotions, connections

Begin to form that bond

The two, in a sort of Swan Song

(Each destined to reach a conclusion

When both become one)

But, if all this is so

Then, what of our picture shows?

Family and celebrity life

(One is supposed to be joyous,

The other, smut)

These two lives cannot be torn apart

They have a habit of knocking

Each other up

For every celebrity whose life we deem failed

For every poor electoral decision we flail

For all the gossip

All the rumours

All the scandal

And bile

Will leave traces on our family life

In this mediated, global family strife.