Did you make some changes from the previous version of this that you posted on here?  Some of it looks a little different but I can't tell for certain.

 Praise: This is a timely poem and anyone reading it can relate to it. I really like the title/first line. We, the readers know that you are talking about turning on a TV of course but are you also "turning" on the war as if to say you are turning against it? I don't know if this was intentional but I like the thought of it nonetheless. I also like it because you didn't make any references to "America" or "stars and stripes" -type language, which which seems to be already in abundance these days...

Suggestions: Some of the lines read a bit akwardly, for instance:

The war goes on and on and on;

a terrible sin; a no win situation,

The rhyme here just doesn't work for me. You might try to use your already existing rhyme of "sin" and "win" at the end of your lines to make it smoother. Just an idea.

You eventually turn off the TV or "war" in the poem, might it be more suggestive if this was the last thing that the author/narrator does? In this effort they would be turning off the TV and "turning on" or against the war - a play on words.

You also might try adding in some vivid visuals of the mutilation and horror described. Is there a specific haunting image in your mind?

I think you have something here. Tweak it a few times and see what happens. Nice idea!

I too think this is a timely poem, and I second Erin's suggestions concerning adding more vivid images associated with the horrors you mention. I sincerely believe that poety's primary advantage over other artistics mediums is its ability to qucikly evoke emotions from its readers. Use that capability to its fullest. While avoiding melodrama, reach inside our hearts and wrench free the emotions bottled up there. While I won't claim to be a poet of any sort, I have spent a good deal of time reading and studying and appreciating it. Often, the most powerful images can be found in single words and disturbing rhythms.

In any case, I enjoyed this. Keep working at it.

 First off, I thought this was a very effective piece. There is viable emotion that it really gets across strongly. I know how you feel, war is depressing and reflecting on it it really makes you wonder if it was worth it in the first place.

I loved the imagery you used, it was very powerful and really spoke to me on a deep level. The scary thing about this piece is its realism, which really gets me and pulls sharply on those heart strings.

The rythem to this poem flows nicely and still manages to fit in conveying its strong emotional point among other strong feelings and images that it prints across the readers mind.

Its interesting though, when you really stop and think about it. I mean, you mention how terrible the war is and how strongly you can't stand all of the death and the bloodshed and yet you keep tuning in to find out more to see more. I guess its almost unavoidable, which is a sad and haunting that. Its very deep with complicated and hard to described contemplations and theories I wouldn't even have time to fully delve into within my mind.

Anything haunting thing is that the more the shows repeat and show more war scenes the more the ratings shoot up. Makes you realized how demoralized our society is, how they seem almost unaffected by the torment, or they are afflicted by it but are drawn to in on some level. Very haunting, very deep, it makes you feel it right in the pit of your stomach, curdling across my stomach lining. It makes me sick to think about it...

Wow, those are some really powerful words. Not alot of poems and writings make me feel like this.

This piece really makes one think and I think its amazing.

Its a true eye-opener. Thank you for writing it.

~Michelle Erin

Ps. I hope I can shake this feeling soon, its haunting and imprinting on my mind and heart and I need to write so, haha, but thanks any ways.

I think adding a setting to this could really make it kill.  What does that mean... well, I guess just that I'd like to know what's going on in between the TV set and your mind.  You could try following the first stanza with what you were doing.  A concrete image would bring the emotions to the surface and add a whole new dimension to the poem.  For instance: what are you doing when you turn on the war?  sitting at the kitchen table, coffee cigarette and eggs for breakfast?  trying to write but keep looking up at the screen?  shivering under a blanket on the couch in a winter house with no heat?  It's all sorts of possibilities, and they don't even have to be true, just tell us what you are doing when you're watching.  It obviously doesn't need to be the same thing throughout.  maybe you just keep the tube on as you go about your day. 

Also, I had some wild idea that you could maybe talk about something that comes apart...I don't know, maybe you have a sweater that comes unraveled, and you know you could fix it if you stopped pulling the string longer, but you can't, or some such thing...but juxtapose it with the idea of watching the war...then put the tragic horror that you abhor part after that...

just a couple of ideas really, I know it's not the best critique, but I hope it's at least somewhat helpful.

I think that really my only point of criticism was that I feel like it needs a little more there than just the TV and you're mind...

other than that, it's a good poem.