Welcome back
One correct answer
Could change your life
One wrong answer
Could make excellent television
They brought me through a service door
Beneath the painted stage
Past a row of smiling winners
Getting measured for a cage
Woman with a clipboard said
"Don’t worry, this is standard"
Then she took away my real name
And replaced it with a number
Camera three was leaking oil
Camera six could read your pulse
Every light above the doorway
Turned your panic into results
They said, "Tell us what you wanted"
I said, "Room enough to live"
They said, "That answer lacks excitement
Tell us what you’d sacrifice to win"
There were families in the green room
Practicing surprise
Learning how to cry on cue
Without disturbing sponsor time
One man won a golden staircase
Leading straight into a wall
Still he waved beneath the confetti
Like he’d finally won it all
Every button says press me
Every screen says choose
They built a game
Where playing means
You already lose
Prize machine
Smile for the feed
Give it your fear
It gives you what you need
Prize machine
Bright teeth, clean hands
You win the box
They own the man
Red light
Green light
Stand where you’re seen
Everybody pays
The prize machine
Claim your reward
Round two, they rolled a wheel out
With our weaknesses in gold
"Debt," "Love," "Health," "Attention"
Every section bought and sold
Contestant to my left said
He had children back at home
Host leaned close and whispered
"Perfect, give the camera something they can own"
He spun hard, landed on "Mercy"
House declared the word invalid
Sirens screamed, the floor dropped open
Sponsor called the moment balanced
I asked who wrote the rules
They pointed upward to the booth
Booth pointed toward the market
Market pointed at the youth
Every answer had a purchase
Every failure had a brand
Every tragedy was edited
To fit inside a human hand
They offered me a silver microphone
And sixty seconds free
Said, "Tell the world your deepest wound
And thank the company"
I held it like a weapon
Without raising up my voice
Said, "A choice made under hunger
Is not honestly a choice"
The host stopped smiling
Prize machine
Smile for the feed
Give it your fear
It gives you what you need
Prize machine
Bright teeth, clean hands
You win the box
They own the man
Red light
Green light
Stand where you’re seen
Everybody pays
The prize machine
Backstage, there was no treasure
Just warehouses
Full of unopened prizes
Keys to apartments
Nobody could afford
Medicine with subscription fees
Vacations from jobs
That would fire you for leaving
Nothing in the building was free
Not even the exits
So I walked back through the curtain
While the countdown hit ten
Saw the audience signs flashing
Tell him try again
Nine
Security advancing
Eight
The sponsors pulling sound
Seven
Every camera turning
Like a rifle tracking ground
Six
I cut the smiling microphone
Five
I killed the theme
Four
Put the contract on the lens
So every clause filled every screen
Three
The winners saw their staircases
Were bolted to the floor
Two
The families left the green room
And unlocked the service door
One
The host said, "Think this through
You could have everything"
I said
"You don’t own what people need
Just because you built the machine"
Prize machine
Choke on the feed
You sell the wound
Then sell what people need
Prize machine
Bright teeth, clean hands
You built the box
We broke the plan
Red light
Dead light
Nothing stays clean
Nobody wins
The prize machine
No prize
No crown
No score
No owner
I left through the service hallway
With my number in my fist
Passed the wall of former winners
Every photograph dismissed
Outside, morning hit the pavement
Plain, unedited, mean
Best thing I ever won
Walking out