Writers' Block
a monthly contribution from our AWA Writers' Group Written by Cy Roden
150 Typewriters Tom Hanks is a great collector. Typewriters his special thing. Keyboards, ribbons, spools and levers, Type tap, type tap, type, ping ping!
Tom doesn’t want them buried with him. He’d never get a cemetery. Can’t find it in his heart to leave them, Already he’s in purgatory.
Remington and Olivetti, Underwood and IBM, Smith Corona Selectomatic, Royal Safari, Hermes 10.
But hot-dog, gee-whizz, They mustn’t be a burden to his kids. So would you like an old typewriter? He’s clearing out and getting rid.
Every one a classic beauty, Each machine a work of art, Each one with its special features, Magic in each moving part.
How weird the world of life’s possessions. How strange the power of get and give: Half a life in acquisition, The final part in parting with.
The permanence of type in paper: The ink indented in that way. But permanence is sadly fleeting While transience seems here to stay.
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The AWA Writers’ Group meets the second and fourth Thursday to discuss their work. For more information, send an email to writers@awasingapore.org
Bamboo Telegraph - Mar/Apr 2020
