file edit view insert format tools
by Savannah M. Ford
I’ve watched the worst wits around me fall into single file
dictated by copy + paste and time-stamp edits
I’ve erased my cookies, prayed for something clearer to come into view
and regurgitated fibs that are inserted
where the default format
has failed and the machinery has forgotten its own tools
young and hungry, I sought out a unique set of tools
wide and hallow-eyed, I stored them in a file
that followed a different format
from the one that had been made for me, to edit
the remnants of tattered tea-towels soaking up—insert
booze here—swaying bodies in naked view
instead, my body and bones were in full view
in front of every counterfeit who knew how to use that tin of tools
to break down decaying doors set on a shoe insert
rather than hinges or frame files
who unscrewed themselves and walked the other way, to edit
basins of water that reflected nothing but fate’s format
I talked with typers who followed a new format
strolled with crafters who passed by my view
of the suffering streets, marinating in over-done edits
to stalky kids who used to wander around doing nothing with their tools
but now, file
in ridged-straight lines towards a backwards indent, insert
here where the insert
should’ve been, I had it all twisted up line break format
disappeared into a blank screen I forgot to hit save after file
I clicked history, but nothing came into view
except kids starving for ambition but instead, found fear laced with tools
they were never taught to use, why would they when there’s digital edit
anything that could be designed by want or edited
by need I decided to insert
I encrypted them to rewrite my hands and decode my minds’ tools
but instead, I watched the format
falter and the creases come into view
far from the locked case where my mind stored its flustered files
colored coded, alphabetized, and filed deep in my back pocket where edit
marks don’t go stale, they’ll be on view for 10,000 years, insert
delirium, death, and dentures here to format failure, filth, and tit-for-tat tools