it’s hard to know where to stand
too close and the temptation
to straighten delint and groom overpowers
but admire from a distance
and the picture is mobbed with drainage
ditches ductwork and storm sewers
just say there arose a mania for invention
the patent office outgrew it premises
umpteen times and lexicographers ran
through all possible names for objects
young Freud swiped the dream
from a broken-down shaman
and Einstein put asunder
what God had so carefully joined
pale men in a darkened room
watch a pram endlessly tumble
down steep ceremonial steps
not one makes a move to stop it
just say people thought themselves
practical and hard-headed
in their dreams one centimeter
equalled one centimeter
each was labeled actual size