Idea Machine

The idea machine whirred inside
Gears cranking
Stop pins clacking in time
Tapping into parallel dimensions
Adjusting reality to it's own intentions

Exterior all black polished lacquer and chrome
With blindingly bright brass fittings for show
Chuffing black coal smoke for pure effect
A fossil fuel consumption machine
With firebox a hot cherry glow

In close proximity to the infernal machine
Visible light was bent
Making a bright oasis sheen
It was it's reality distortion field hard at work
Creating in the timeline a definitive fork

I leaned a little closer
Trying to enter it's proximity
But alarm bells went off
It blew steam at me from a whistle
I wasn't allowed inside it seems
It was it's own little world
A bubble of creation
Where everything was real
A vivid fantasy destination

Through a viewport in the side
I observed flickers of things passing through
A constant subliminal stream
So fast did the images flash

A frog with a parasol
A lizard on the lake
Water skiing skyscrapers
President Oprah eating cake
A face that held for an uncomfortable second
Staring at me and through me
Diamonds for eyes
Facets that reflected orange colored skies

My head throbbed with pain
So I stepped back shaking it
Behind the painted line
Which clearly said
"Stand behind line
Do not look inside machine"

About that time
The twin green mechanical typewriters started clacking
Driven by steam powered copper fingers
Pivoting on arms from deep within the machine
Words flowed like water upon the page
Something wonderful took shape
The most important idea of this age

But just then something broke
Deep inside the black lacquer hide
The machine shuddered and shook
Anchor bolts breaking apart at it's left front foot
Fire flickered at the crystal window
Paint started peeling
Chrome trim began to turn blue

Before I ran from the disaster
I grabbed the paper from the now still writers
Those same pieces of paper
That now perplex us all so much

The greatest idea of our age
Cut short by mechanical failing and pyrotechnic rage
Is incomplete
Is insufficient

Amidst all the random letters and numbers
One coherent phrase was found

"Brought to you by all possible futures and dimensions
The meaning of your existence is......."

The insidious machine would never tell it's secret
Wrecked beyond repair
Reactors and fireboxes cold
Fingers and gears immobile
Never again to make a sound