Judgment
by Ken Poyner
Of the infinite number of monkeys
Typing on an infinite number of typewriters
I am monkey number 37.
Being that I am number 37
And knowing that infinity
Can have no ordinal beginning If it is actually ‘infinity’ I should feel dejected,
But I do not. In fact,
I feel today might be my day,
Even though there are no days
In infinite time; and I type
Endlessly away, my faith being the element
That keeps this Universe
Even keeled with its units of mechanical purpose:
And with this sheet,
Though, in an infinity there can be
No distinct sheets, out
Comes the perfect page of
Marlowe. I am so close
I can understand the fate
Of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
I am so close I can feel
The blind love of Lear.
Before timelessness is done with me,
This proud monkey will have
His one perfect page of Shakespeare,
His fixed point in the swirl of conjecture.
And I, monkey number 37, will be
The exclamation that excites each sentence.
Gyroscope Review 3! 9