The Michael Toy

Poems and Other Programmes


reboot


you know a thing or two about computers
sometimes, however, it is broken and you can't fix it
you have skills, but you can't figure this one out
time to make the call, bring in the expert
head tilted, phone tucked,
the hits of the 80s play while you wait,
for the genius, the guru of goodness
someone who can dis-assemble and re-assemble the thing blindfolded

of course you already know exactly what the master will say
after listening carefully to you describe the symptoms
along with all the clever things you have done to diagnose the problem
the expert is going to ask you to reboot
which makes you angry. your problem is unique, complex
requiring sophisticated solutions,
very likely taxing the knowledge of the wizard
just as it has exhausted yours
something is really wrong here
reboot is for noobs, for dummies

which makes it that much more maddening
when the reboot works
and the bored savant asks you
    "is there anything else i can help you with"
which sounds like code for
    "is that all you got?  i thought you had a real problem
     get off the phone now so i can help people who really need me"

word fragments best left unassembled
breathed out as you hang up
now perhaps you are ready to hear my words
as i speak of the wonder of beauty of reboot
sure, you could trace down the original sin
was it a device improperly removed?
you know you are supposed to eject it first.
maybe it was one of times you pulled the plug
rather than waiting for the shutdown sequence to finish
go ahead, replay every strange bump in the road
correlate symptoms with actions and determine possible causes

when you have truly understood
the words of the master
a door opens into a new possibility
unexpected unburdening

reboot, and all that stuff
never happened
no longer important to remember every wrong thing you ever did
reboot, and the important question is
what are you going to do next

Path: class GeekPoetry(Poetry):