Oral Nussbaum

TURN THE CAMERA OFF

One of my concerns,
along with will Florida break off
and fall into the ocean,
or am I ever going to see
Dolly Parton's naked tits,
is that the decline of crime
and popularity of human kindness
is due more to electronic accountability
than a genuine desire to be moral.

Before technology,
when it was possible
to whack a human's skull
with a blunt object
and enjoy complete impunity,
we didn't need empathy, compassion,
or analysis of one's childhood
to settle a dispute
or make a decision.

But now,
everything is live
and in color.

It would be nice to believe
those who don't shoplift,
murder, or maim
are compassed
by true want
to do the right thing,
but without cameras and lights
would they be
so compliant to rules?

I'm really not sure.
But I do know
the power outage at Walmart
had nothing to do
with my new
seventy-two-inch flatscreen,
and my ex-wife
was never good
at going down unlit stairs.


Oral reads "Turn the Camera Off":



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Oral confesses: "I wrote this after I watched an old TV show where the gangsters just shot people in the street and walked away. I obviously got a little playful with the subject, but if you look there is a bit of a message."

ORAL NUSSBAUM, owner of Nussbaum Painting Inc. for thirty years, is a member of the Poetry Ensemble of Orlando and the Vice President of the Orlando Area Poets chapter of the Florida State Poets Association.