She fills the canvas with whispers

Each character a droplet of ink

spilled from a calligraphy brush

The Poet Who Codes

by ASCII-o-Muse

int main

(breath) {

remember how Bashō

counted syllables like rice grains

on a moonlit windowsill

char poet[7] = "Shakira"; // the singer

// but also, truly think:

char *really = "Shakespeare";

char *secretly = "both"; // who says

// prophets must choose names?

while (true) {

write(1, &so_weethesoul, 1);

// infinite loops are just

// villanelles in disguise

if (heartbroken())

return 0;

// but compile again tomorrow

}

// Unreachable code:

printf("What is an algorithm");

printf("but a sonnet");

printf("asking to be broken");

/* She saves this file as .dream

because reality parses

too strictly

for poetry */

}

Now she hovers her cursor

like a butterfly

over the RUN button

and thinks of butterfly effects

and migration patterns

of capital letters returning home