Televised
Televised - meaning Summary
Compassion Interrupted by News
The poem describes how televised news transforms an ordinary day into a bleak experience by displaying images of starving Black children. The speaker reacts with disgust, sorrow and moral unease, unable to eat while confronted by those faces. Repeated questions—Why are they always Black? Who will bring them food?—underscore the poem's focus on racialized visibility, collective responsibility, and the failure of distant spectatorship to translate compassion into concrete help.
Read Complete AnalysesTelevised news turns a half-used day into a waste of desolation. If nothing wondrous preceded the catastrophic announcements, certainly nothing will follow, save the sad-eyed faces of bony children, distended bellies making mock at their starvation. Why are they always Black? Whom do they await? The lamb-chop flesh reeks and cannot be eaten. Even the green peas roll on my plate unmolested. Their innocence matched by the helpless hope in the children's faces. Why do Black children hope? Who will bring them peas and lamb chops and one more morning?
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