Characters Consumed

The sun sets on the nine to five

Day is done

The five to nine quickens

On the retreat to our domain

One screen closes

One million more crack open

We dive into this immersion

Sucked into a sweet escape

Old lovers leave our lives

These eternal souls remain

Immortalized on screen and page

They await our nightly reunion

Who are they to you?

Fearsome pirates and devilish rogues?

Vampire lovers or vampire hunters,

Entangled in an ill-fated affair?

From witches, and wizards

Fae folk and elven kings

Ogres gargoyles and orcs

And everything in between

Hereos save the planet

Or only a single day

Inconceivably fast and strong

With otherworldly forces abound

Ordinary people caught in the extraordinary

On the hunt for what lies beyond

Are they the hunted? That may be

They make it out, you know, they always do.

Maybe they’re merely mortals

An idealized imitation of the life you lead

Fictional friend groups that never stray

Marvels of the mundane: just some guy

They live forever as figments

The maker’s image comes to life

A vicarious life you live through them

A version of them, lives in you

Have you made any of your own?

A fabrication of your pshyce

Molded by whatever inspires

Your take on the colorful cast stored up there

May you set all of them free

As a keepsake for all to favor

To hold close to their hearts

In respite and refuge when the day dies

These characters consume

But we can't look away

We crave that warm one-sided fireside chat

Chasing that same high of the first, upon every visit

What we wouldn’t give to see again with new eyes.

Still, we sit; we watch, we read, and we listen.

Unto others, we send our same love of that first look.

In suggestions and our inventions:

That gift wrapped in the character who gives us comfort.