"The poem is a machine," said that famous man, and so I'm building one.
Or at least I'm having it built, because I want something big and impressive and automatic.
You see, people will stand in front of it and insert money, dimes or quarters, depending upon the poem's locus.
Yes the whole thing will clank and hum and light up and issue a string of words on colored ticker-tape.
Or maybe the customers will wear ear-phones and turn small knobs so the experience will be more audile-tactile than old fashioned visual.
In any case they will only get one line at a time,
This being the most important feature of my design which is based on the principle that,
In poetry, "one perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception,"
And therefore the audience will be compelled to feed in coin after coin.
Now I admit that the prototype model that you see on display is something of a
compromise, as it has a live poet concealed inside.
But I assure you that this crudity will eventually be eliminated
Because each machine, I mean each poem, is to be fully computerized
And so able to stand on its own feet.