Sunday, May 01, 2011
How to learn morse code
1.
Put a peppercorn on your tongue. Swallow. Repeat.
2.
Sprawled on the grassy berm just behind the mall
trucks-in-reverse are to loading
docks as tagged whales
are to breeding grounds: sounding frequently.
3.
Oily fingerprints on a door.
4.
Um. When armageddon comes, your tippity-tap skills will be on par with those who can kill remorselessly.
5.
........ pitilessly.
6.
Dried raindrops on a window.
7.
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but loads of free time and a touch of OCD is the aggressive step-father.
8.
Soft fingertips on your inner arm.
9.
In a moment of crisis: your thrumming heart in your throat + your buzzing phone in your breast pocket.
* * *
Notes:
"To indicate that you have made a mistake while broadcasting the previous word, transmit eight dots. This will tell the receiver of your message to cross out the last word transmitted before the signal." - Tip #4, How to Learn Morse Code.
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8 comments:
No 7 says a lot about the change in social needs from 100 years ago, yet No. 4's skills feel too close for comfort. More diametrics in No. 9, at least for me who still won't give in to a phone in my pocket.. and so of course I love the timelessness of 3 & 6!
Well done.
J'aime aussi. esp. 3, 6, 8 - succinct!
Hey A,
I like the enigmatic and whimsical nature of this poem.
I think you could lose the "your" in 4 and 9 for consistency.
# 2--the lines could sprawl?
Suggestion: I wonder if you couldn't play/mess with more of the morse code rules? For example rather than actually putting in the eight dots, just stroke out the word (keeping the quote though about the rule)?
Love this, like so many of your how-to poems. Thrumming--what a great word.
I, too, like the whimsy of this piece, the way you _play_ with your idea.
Re: no.2-- it sounds like the trucks are sprawled on the grassy berm, which may not be what you're after.
No helpful comments, just thank you for this.
The eight dots are the best. Like the dots of a copyeditor's "stet". I wonder if they are related?
Love #1, 2 especially. Fun note. Wondered about "Um" -perhaps a ... to indicate the stalling and finger tapping technique if that is how it is intended? Also dried raindrops (splatters? or just raindrops?) Maybe rain never dries here - too wet! In 9, wonder about or instead of +
Fun poem!
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