Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

A New Poem

And now for something completely different….

This morning's front page lead article
in the San Francisco Chronicle 
described a dog cemetery.
A companion article below the fold
heralded a new restaurant opening.
Inside, there were two more articles 
about dogs, and several on car accidents 
and restaurant closures.
Nothing about Gaza.
Nothing about Lebanon.
Barely a mention of 
the war with Iran.
At least there was one 
on the economy.
Oh, journalism,
what has become of you?
You seem to have gone the way
of newsboys on urban corners shouting, 
"Extra! Extra! Read all about it!"

One might ask,
"Why do you still bother getting 
these poor excuses for newspapers 
tossed onto your doorstep every morning?"
Even the sports news is always
two days late now.
Surely the comics and the crossword puzzle 
are not worth the expense.
But we seem incapable of contemplating
eating breakfast without the morning paper
on the table along with the eggs or oatmeal.
Some old school habits are just
too hard to give up.