The Magical Black Panel

or TV Advert Absurdities

There is a black panel located in the room that I inhabit. It sits in silence, quiet and aloof. I recently discovered its ability to come alive with light and moving pictures. Truly a wonder, a marvel, magical. I am, though, somewhat baffled by the absurd imagery that it spews. Perhaps I am not intellectually attuned to the correct interpretive frequency.

Today I saw things being eaten, things being used, things being thrown, things being built. I saw people feigning happiness, feigning sadness, feeling pain, manifesting madness. There were glossy people, shiny people, ever so disturbingly abnormal people.

I continued to watch for hours and the sickly treacle for the eyes and ears failed to wane. I saw a fat man singing; he had a thoroughly bizarre moustache. I saw little speaking meerkats who demonstrated a varying sense of style. I saw adults talking like babies; babies acting like adults. There was a man painting a fence and doing nothing much else. Gardens, beaches, shops and offices. There were drinks which imbue the power of flight, foods which make you slimmer, sweets which make you happier, scents which make you calmer, devices which make you smarter, but there are, of course, drugs for all of that.

I finally broke free from the trance and smashed the colourful panel until it reverted to a state of blackness but with an overlain silver cobweb. I feel a sense of calm returning which I will never again take lightly.

Apparently those visions were called adverts, but I’ll ever remember them as absurd.