Telly Crime

Telly Crime is a poem I wrote in response to an exercise in my Creative Writing class where we were encouraged to write something using the "Ruba;i" form.

The inspiration for the subject was probably the "Crime Thriller Club" TV show which recently finished its run on ITV3.

The number of police, private investigator, criminal and legal shows that have been televised over the years is considerable. Not that I'm complaining. 

Telly Crime

The number of crime shows – on my TV –
Seems to be growing exponentially
It’s not just old Dixon with “Evening, all”,
All eve’ning from six on, at least two or three.

With repeats of Heartbeat, Blue Murder and more
It’s difficult sometimes to tally a score.
There’s Scott and there’s Bailey up here in the north,
That one in the Sixties that stars Martin Shaw.

There’s Cracker and Rebus and 'Wexford and Morse
And Poirot and Marple and Lewis, of course,
With Juliet Bravo, The Gentle Touch too
The Sweeney and Bill representing the "Force".

Dalziel and Pascoe and DCI Banks,
Wycliffe and Vera all chasing the cranks,
Broadchurch and Sherlock, Law & Order UK –
and I’ve not even mentioned the shows from the "Yanks".

Two or three spin-offs came from C.S.I.,
Plus N.C.I.S., Law & Order – oh, my.
There’s Person of Int’rest and Castle and Bones
And Body of Proof and that weird Dexter guy.

Their older shows crop up again and again
Like Magnum and Rockford and Kojak and then
There’s Cagney and Lacey and Barnaby Jones
And Starsky (that’s Dave) and Hutch (that is Ken).

So what is the reason for shows of this sort?
The action? And hoping that villains get caught?
Maybe it’s simply that conflict makes drama,
And hey, what the hell, it’s sure better than sport.