Eye Witness Views - Houdunnit? Poem by Margaret Kollmer

There’s something very compelling about television advertising where colourful, bright ads seduce us with slick-of-word, sleight-of-hand genius, to the extent that we find ourselves involuntarily drawn into the dodgy world of consumerism. As if we weren’t already there. Take that horrible little meerkat, for example.

“I like the way you loo—ook, ” he sings hauntingly as he dances through the town like some modern day Pied Piper. Even though he’s quite awful to look at, I find myself swaying in tune with the melody, totally absorbed. I do not, though, have the vaguest idea which cellphone he is promoting. So much for brand identification.

My current puzzlement is the Olympic gold medallist, representing whisky, for heaven’s sake, who is about to dive off a tall building, fully clothed, down into the depths of a strategically placed swimming pool. Perfectly poised, he raises his arms up to his sides, then brings them together in diving position and daringly leaps off into space.

Suddenly he pikes then straightens out, and like a hot knife through butter, slices cleanly into the water. We are enthralled as he surfaces safe and sound but hey! Wasn’t he fully clothed when he first started out? He was indeed, so how and when did he manage to divest himself of his garments and emerge with a very bare chest; all gleaming and glistening; taut six-pack and all.

So we are left wondering…………….did the force of hitting the water rip his shirt off or was he able to perform some underwater strippping gymnastics too complicated for our little minds to comprehend?

Houdini would probably have the answer but all we want to know is Houdunnit!