I have a computer of singular worth,
faithfully unfaithful to my touch,
almost a relic, but staunchly built,
maniacal, though it was not always so…

She was usedly new, in the Spring of 2000,
her ex-owner came and cabled her up,
I could barely breath, I’d been waiting
for years, to reach out and touch the world.

But I was illiterate to computer ways,
this baby had scars from replaced guts,
Hewlett Packard mixed with Yamaha,
self-expanded memory and motherboard replaced,
tweaks and raps she survived, retaining her poise.

Couldn’t do much but play games, at first,
took two classes so I knew what to do,
in Works and how to get around the Internet.
Her complexity fascinated me, her alluring
Control Panel and Help became my roaming grounds.

My good intentions to ‘fix’ nothing wrong
converted fun into mind-numbing nights,
searching for a driver I made disappear,
waffling through miles of files, poking my nose
where it had no business being, I screwed her up.

DOS and Safety Mode were pains in the ass,
yet every tiny victory in comprehending
buoyed my mind, until that dreadful day
I think I turned the C drive into Z drive,
and she gave up our meetings, becoming mute.

‘Putey had to go to Computerland, the guy was smiling
as I told my tale, assured me he could fix her
“good as new,” it would take a few days,
I berated myself, while she was gone, promised
to stay out of Control Panel, and cleaned the house.

Reunited, we once again took up web surfing;
Bingo abounded, TwoCows was cool,
gaming sites became the rule,
a contented time, before writing became my vice,
actually, there were some nights, due to full moons
or libation’s pride, I would become eager to meddle.

The wealth of paths would tempt me in,
twice more, when I couldn’t ‘fix’ my way out,
I crashed her brain. My restless mind
couldn’t abide not knowing how she imputed
her life, she was a marvel of technology, besieged by me.

I have over a hundred pages of System data,
multiple duplications of replicated files,
occasionally, I’ll just look around,
and delete an old file or Explore my Program Files.

I am forever rebooting, rebutting and refuting
her manic whims, DynaZip errors bring blue screens face,
I have utilities to repair our tired incorporation,
‘Putey and I are now dysfunctionally intimate.

Erin Moen
10/28/03
Copyright 2003 ©