Monday, 30 December 2024

Machine

 


Image: detail of Iso-mandala No. 93 (September 2020)

 [Machine] 

the machine of perpetual opera

box office always open, opener

as countless shows play often, oftener

 

the machine that only tells lies

the machine that laughs and sighs

the machine to close his eyes

 

they’re delicate situations

the machines tuned to known sensations

elation, evasion, knowing his station

 

he could wish for one with insight

but would it go to sleep at midnight

and never get things right

 

the machine he thought sublime

for telling him the time in no time

the clock has been replaced with brain chimes

 

the machine that turns his domus serene

daily into Versailles, or dangling Babylon green

a Malibu cliffhanger, or nuclear submarine

 

the tiny machine no larger than a corpuscle

the gigantic machine landing no hustle

in a field by its airport of infinite bustle

 

did he invent these machines, no not perhaps

anymore than the merry-go-round app

whence he views all his friends in a snap

 

his mind’s made up, his hands are tied

he used to think he could decide

the machine takes him for a ride

 

sun-cars, coal-cars, wind-cars, oil-cars

vie for the road whether near or far

no beginning, no end, give him a cigar!

 

their aggregate of speed

slows to rust buckets in weeds

and thanks for the memories, at need

 

these days he prefers reading escapist loans

set in a world before telephones

where the horse set the pace and tone

 

the machine of the film of the idea is best

the pop song of the war, his friends suggest

lately deleted like all the rest

 

but the label on tomorrow’s machines

the end justifies the means

is yesterday’s, gone from the scene

 

the machines with the intention

to be the most important invention

of his time, as may have been mentioned 

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