Sunday, July 19, 2015

Word for Word Processing


Often I think of great American writers of old, Mark Twain,
John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
What if they had computers in their day with which to dig-
itally type their manuscripts. Indeed, their words may have

Flowed more easily, more prolifically. They may have had
More time to further produce their literary masterworks.
Ah, but then, what may have been lost to all mankind had
They pressed the wrong key, and not having saved what was

Previously written, lost the entire piece? Such a tragedy has
Happened to me a time or two. Then, I found myself up the
Proverbial creek without a paddle, trying desperately to re-
Construct word for word the work I had worked so hard to

Complete thus far. And the shame of it, no waste paper bas-
ket within reach to retrieve the discarded draft which I may
Have reconsidered to be most enlightened and appropriate
After all. Oh the sinking misery, the loss to all mankind who

Shall sleep peacefully in their innocence and reverie, never
Knowing such a goddamn tragedy ever even happened. Oh,
The humanity! (Oh my, that line has already been used…
Delete…No, wait!)


Chris Hanch  7-19-15

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