The Invocation of Metric Code

"""
The Invocation of Metric Code
=============================

A Pythonic poem in (mostly) metric form.

Hacks until the devs publish a fix:

- "()", "[]", ".", ":", "_",  "=" and "==" don't contribute!
- Comments are part of the poem! Except this one!
- "pprint" = "puh-PRINT"

"""
# at first, this helpful little shape
from re import escape
# and then some help for those who squint
import pprint # that alters tint
# at last, these ready words are spoke
import invoke # to pry and poke
import my_heart # but tender hold
import provoke as smoke
import thy_art # to break the mold

def use(this="thought", with_mode="exhaust"):
    """
    Where dreams become though some are lost...
    """
    try: # hope, but keep your fingers crossed...

        if not (with_mode in [ "act", "retain"]):
            return "what's left of last remain"

        if type(f'of {this}') == thy_art.a_ring:
            return my_heart.to_spring(
                myself_is = this, but = ("suffering")
            )

        # TODO: Alas! Another miss!
        raise smoke.abyss(with_only = this)

    except RecursionError as remiss:
        pprint.pprint("renew, and don't dismiss!")
        this = set(escape(remiss))
        return invoke.Oh.muse(" " and "please").sing(this)

# HOTFIX: Let this "==" be "is"! But only here!
# Oh, don't complain, just play the game!
if __name__ == "__main__":
    invoke.with_fuse()
    invoke.Oh.muse([
        " " and use(this=dream, with_mode="retain")
        for dream in smoke.of_wing
        if dream is all(thy_art.to_bring())
    ])

• April 2025

Submission History

Date	Publication	Status
April 27, 2025	Frontier Misfit Competition	Rejected
June 12, 2025	Merion West	Rejected
November 2, 2025	Infocalypse Arts & Literary Magazine	Accepted

Dear Grant,

Thank you for submitting The Unicode Ode and The Invocation of Metric Code to Infocalypse Press. After review, we’re delighted to accept both pieces for publication in Issue 1: Recursion (January 2026).

These poems form a striking diptych on language and consciousness. The Unicode Ode renders human emotion in the syntax of code — an elegy written in symbols — while The Invocation of Metric Code reimagines programming itself as a devotional act, a hymn to recursion and renewal. Together they embody the magazine’s fascination with the spaces where machine logic becomes lyric, and where poetry begins to think for itself.

We’ll follow up closer to publication with proofs and formatting notes, and a bio request, but for now — welcome aboard, and thank you for helping us define what a recursive future sounds like.

—Kat Autiö, Editor-in-Chief, Infocalypse Press