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      June 8, 2023Tim SkeenFetish

      I’m not psychotic; I’m just hungry.
      —Peter Lorre

      The rhythm of the photocopier
      and the clarity of the images
      excite me. The first page of semicolons
      appears in the document tray.
      12 point type gives me 5,934 semicolons.
      Anything smaller than 12 point type
      is pornography. I examine the page
      for flaws. The paper warms my fingers.
      I run 50 pages, which I spread out
      on the table. 296,700 semicolons.
      How disappointing. I thought
      there would be more, but there are reams
      left on the shelf, and after they’re gone,
      whole catalogues devoted to more paper
      and toner. There’s even a maintenance
      agreement. I am perhaps two decades
      from retirement, and not at all selfish
      or unreasonable or obsessed with numbers
      or size. At 72 point type I can get 147
      semicolons on each page. Between
      12 point and 72 point, between Arial
      and Harrington and Verdana,
      there are so many possibilities,
      all delightful and mine.

      from #25 - Summer 2006

      Tim Skeen

      “For me, reading and writing poetry is searching for ecstasy; Rattle is one of the places I look.”