Ode to Elmer
I've been clearing out my old files and found this early poem, which I wrote after leaving a job in the seventies.
Ode to Elmer
by Barbara Etlin
O Elmer
elegant Edsel of typewriters
how I miss your
creative word coinage
your mysterious and elusive
case ofhic c ough s wh ich would
disappear when the doctor came
and r eapp ea r af te r he'd left
what joyous times we had
in windowless fluorescence
behind the fortress walls
where none could detect
the difference between thinking and sleeping
O Elmer
who now cruelly torments your keys?
can she appreciate
your wicked sense of humour
the way I did?
does she remember to put
your pyjamas on at night?
does your life seem
mechanical
humdrum
accurate
now?
can anyone else
turn you on
as I once could?
Copyright Barbara Etlin, 1977, all rights reserved
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