Dark grey keys stab, then stab again

The paper pinned by ribboned steel

Staccato sounds, the carriage shakes,

A bell brings pause and roller turns.

The type presumes to add more lines

To copied dreams so ill conceived

That Art falls short of Muse’s brief,

– the dream’s torn loose, becomes one more

Crumpled snowball on the floor.

 

In your forgotten corner,

long displaced by the upstart chip,

You peer beneath a pile of files

And I recall our brief affair

When I followed a higher call

And made you serve this blighted youth

– a little charmer still, in black and silver,

Tarted up to please a would be scribe

You little minx – my Remmington Deluxe Remette

 

 

• For a Spectator competition