my printer went to sleep

it dozes off, when it’s not

making black marks on white paper

it has to keep itself busy

when it’s not, it turns its neurons off

grabs a nap, goes dormant

puts its digital processes on hold

to save energy

but when it starts again

poked by a computer’s elbow

its little led screen

the display of what’s going on in its little insides

has reversed itself, flipped

what was black is now grey

what was white is now grey

grey on grey

unreadable, indecipherable

positive images developed

into negatives

like the photographs kodak once clicked

remember them?

while reality was taking a nap

life flipped into a negative

the future has gone grey

clouded, unclear

optimism has sucked back into its shell

what was ahead is now behind

what was behind can’t be brought forward

rebooting doesn’t work

do I really remember them?

by Jim Taylor, September 2019