KEYBOARD CHAOS
By Jens Kruse


The left Shift key on my laptop
stopped working many months ago.
So I began using the right Shift key.
This was annoying and it turned me from
a mediocre typist into a terrible typist.

Then the right Shift key stopped
working, too. But I could get around that
by using the Caps Lock key to capitalize.

Then I realized that the Caps Lock key
does not activate the question mark.
So I stopped using questions
in my writing, rationalizing that
my writing would be more forceful
if I stopped asking questions.

Then I realized that the Caps Lock key
does not activate the colon.
So I stopped using colons
in my writing, rationalizing that
colons are a syntactic crutch
that I do not need.

But I worry [colon] what happens
if certain letters stop working [question mark].
For a while my readers might
be able to fill in the gaps
and understand what
I am trying to say.

But I fear that the time will come
when my writing will descend
into gibberish.

Who knew th t entropy
pplies to the lph bet,
th t l ngu ge will eventually
become me ningless noise
[question m rk].


 

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