TOYS

Talking, try-me
Computer plush,
Collecting in expensive droves
To drown imagination
In pre-recorded play.
It spawns five o’clock anchor persons
Knowing barely how to interpret,
Creation altogether lost.
Plastic, lights, and motion sensors
Replace a bouncy rubber ball.
Noisemaking is relegated
To the professionals,
Plots formed far in advance
And well-marketed,
So as to prevent mistakes.
Consumption and fear,
Introduced before birth
Are reinforced at infancy
And doubled in strength
Every subsequent day.
Toys can carry more in them
Than I ever would have imagined.