60 words per minute.

Good, they said, but you can do better.

Okay, I tell them,

Even though this job is only temporary.

Click clack chats the keyboard

To the electric sighs of the CPU.

As it heats it crackles and pops,

And I can imagine a red-orange glow

Swallowing the innards

Of its cool iron-black frame.

-

75 words per minute,

They calculated, as I hammered away.

Okay, I tell them,

But I’ve forged other plans

That don’t involve your company.

Click clacking at the keyboard

The monotony I break

With idle music and games

And slide all my misgivings under

A thin stack of finished files.

And I remind myself I am

Not here to stay.

-

90 words per minute.

You’ve worked here too long, they say.

Okay, I tell them,

Because remember, I’m leaving soon.

Click clack clack laughs the keyboard

As I dream of oceans and palm trees

And white sand and then interrupting my reverie

It hits me—

I am old.

And the gum in my mouth turns bitter:

-

How many words per minute can be typed

When no more minutes are left?