"Paper" by Mitchell Grabois

Once I lived in a rudely converted horse barn
I was paper, my hand was paper
my Underwood-Olivetti was centered on my desk
Those were the days!

Now I live in an apartment in the city
I’m a digital man
My palm is digital
as are my digits
and there are no horses out my window
no manure no dirt
I live a thoroughly clean environment

Feelings slide off my laptop screen
and fly direct down the rubbish chute

The rubbish chute has no smell
no cooking smells flavor our hallways

I remember the beat poets
I remember stoned evenings on the bluffs
 
Now there’s only
Ones and Zeroes
and I don’t even use
paper coffee filters anymor