Piker Press — Weekly Journal of Arts and Literature
April 27, 2026

Keyboard

"...I will be at my keyboard late at night..."

Keyboard

Keyboard dancing, poet-writer,
old bold, ribbons are worn out,
type keys bent out of shape.
40 wpm, high school,
Smith Corona 220 electric ultimately
gave out, carrying case, lost key.
No typewriter repairman anymore.
It is this media, new age apps,
for internet dreams, forged nightmares,
nothing can go wrong, right?
Cagey, I prefer my Covid-19 shots
completed one at a time.
Unfinished poems can wait,
hang start-up like Jesus
ragged on that wooden cross,
revise a few lines at a time;
near the end, complete to finish.
I will touch my way out of this life;
as Elton John says,
"like a candle in the wind."
I will be at my keyboard late at night
that moment I pass, my fingertips stop.







More by Michael Lee Johnson → More poetry → Full issue →
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