I saw the add 
for a poetry machine 
a machine to help you write poetry 
 it said 
on your personal computer 
 it said 
your personal helper 
your own little muse 
 it said 
it had a window to display my text 
buttons for me to click 
click for punctuation 
click for grammar 
I could  click click click 
for a rhyming dictionary 
with a few more clicks 
I could jump to  
a thesaurus and  
a regular dictionary 
writing poetry 
would be so easy 
be a bard one easy step 
it said 
... 
I got the poetry machine 
I installed the poetry machine 
I was ready to write 
my first great poem 
on my new poetry machine 
...  
clicking through lists 
of nouns and verbs 
adjectives and prepositions 
lists of rhymes and 
lists of meanings 
I selected every word 
with careful delight 
from each and every list  
down to the very last word 
then my new poem 
was finished 
... 
 

I read my new poem 
it's  badly disjointed 
it's a patch work poem 
too much editing  
it has no flow 
it has no me 
no me that has dreamed 
dreamed in words 
that I see 
up on my screen 
words that talk to me 
 in groups of sounds 
and groups of shapes 
that dance as I speak 
what was this thing 
born from my poetry machine 
what ever it is 
it must die 
... 
without hesitation 
I clicked on delete 
and 
I killed my poetry machine 
that terrible machine 
I killed it with glee 
before it killed me 
... 

Keith O'Connor 
Ottawa  Canada 
2001  aug  22 
www.tinmangallery.com