confession

I once compared
Aristophanes’
Lysistrata to

The Real Housewives
of Orange County

I regret to admit
this happened
in the classroom
and many
of my students
your children
responded well
even laughed
at the seeming
remarkableness
of this association

I regret further
to admit
that I’ve
actually viewed
and on more than
one occasion
not only

The Real Housewives
or Orange County

but of New York
New Jersey
and Atlanta

I’d blame it all
on my wife
but when
I find myself
with options
and still choose
the cackling idiocy
of these reality whores

I cannot justly
accuse her
of bribery or
controlling
the remote

and even worse
this poem
is beginning
to sound like
a Kathy Griffin
comedy hour
which
much to
my chagrin
I have also watched
unabated
and with reluctant
though irrepressible laughter