Review of Like Any Good American by Brynn Saito

Like Any Good American by Brynn Saito was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on April 5, 2013.  The poem appears to be arranged as a triptych, but the stanzas of the poems within the poem form jagged lines, perhaps like the image of a TV screen that is warped or not properly tuned.  Try reading the poem left to right and then as three shorter poems up and down.  The statement about immersion in the media experience is a powerful one.  How many of us ignore the beauty of actual reality while being lost in the virtual?

Prophetically, as I was writing this, a chickadee came to the screen of my bay window twittering away and peered in at me.  I paused in my typing and enjoyed this special treat--but I did have to actively tear myself away from the computer screen in order to enjoy what was happening on my window screen.