THE ARRIVAL
Up here in the boondocks in the summer
of '52, television was still out there
somewhere… somewhere else, but not
here… out there in New York, Boston…
but not here where radios ruled our
backwoods living rooms— consoles
big enough for Sidney Greenstreet
to hide behind. And like rumors of
war, there were whispers: It is coming…
It was in the headlines, the editorials,
Television's on the way! It's almost here!
It was on the radio: Any day now!
And then one night just at dusk,
we spied the crowd gathered like
penguins in the snow out in front of
Ward's department store… everybody
gawking at a luminous little round
‘screen’ in the big picture window!