FOOL INVENTS THE PIANO, 1250 A.D.

Like the monkey that accidentally typed Hamlet,
Fool, tinkering in his workshop, constructed
an exact likeness of a Steinway concert grand,
which he called the “Making-Sounds-with-Little-
Hammers-on-Wires Machine.” It looked impressive,
but he was puzzled about what to do with it.
It was too big and complicated to be a doorstop
and too heavy and lopsided to be a wheelbarrow,
especially with those little brass wheels, so he
tried using it to scare rats out of the hayloft.
But the rats weren’t impressed, and he sprained
his back winching it up. Fool pushed on
the levers to make high sounds and low ones,
wondering why he’d made some levers black.
Neighbors, hearing eerie noises from his house,
suspected Fool of conjuring evil spirits
to cast spells on them. Several broke out
in goat-shaped rashes, others began speaking
gibberish. Soon, Fool found himself trussed atop
his machine, which was then dumped into a lake,
as Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 1 dawned on him.