Till Roll

Manifesto

1. 1.If it does not fit on the roll, it was not a poem yet.
2. 2.Every line is an item. Every item has a price. Feelings are taxed at 24%, like everything else in Greece.
3. 3.We print at night, when people buy the truth in small amounts: one lemon, one phone card, one bus ticket home.
4. 4.Thermal ink fades in about seven years. That is long enough for most poems and too long for some.
5. 5.Poems are handed over the counter. We do not post, email or fax. If you want one, come and stand in the light.
6. 6.The cashier's decision is final. The cashier has been awake since Tuesday.

Signed at the counter, 03:50, between two customers.

Current issue

Issue 37, autumn 2026. Six poems, printed in the order they were bought.

Submission rules

• *Paper: 80mm thermal. Not 57mm. 57mm is a parking ticket.
• *42 characters a line, spaces included. Babis counts them with a pencil.
• *Twelve items at most. After twelve the till asks if you need a bag.
• *No poems about the weather, unless the weather is in the bag. See poem 37-003.
• *Every line needs a price. 0,00 is a price.
• *Rhyming "love" with "above" costs 2,00 per rhyme, payable in advance.
• *Hand it in between 23:00 and 05:00. Buy something small. Put the poem under the coins.
• *No simultaneous submissions to other kiosks. We will find out. It is a small port.
• *We reply within one shift, by receipt. If it says CHANGE DUE, you are in.

Masthead

Night shift, 23:00 to 07:00

Editor. Can price a line by weight.

Poetry. Rejects in pencil, accepts in pen.

VAT on feelings. Twenty years a ferry purser.

Loyalty points. Knows everybody's usual.

Barcodes and the lottery. Weekends only.

The cat. Sits on the good ones.

Back issues

Thermal ink fades. The old issues are lying on the counter beside this one: hold your pointer over one to warm the ink and read it.

Thermal ink fades. Issue 12 is stapled below. Press and hold it, or hover over it, to warm the ink and read it.

Subscribe

One receipt a week, handed to you.

Thursdays from 23:00. Come to the counter and say "the usual, in verse". Babis gives you this week's poem with your change.

If you miss a Thursday, we fold it into a newspaper you did not buy and keep it behind the gum until Sunday. There is no form. There is a counter.

Loyalty card

Ten stamps and Stella writes a poem about you, priced fairly. This is a practice card. Tap a square to stamp it.

Stamps: 0 of 10

Print another

The till writes a fresh poem out of tonight's sales and prints it from the machine at the bottom of your screen.

Tear it off with a sideways pull, or press Tear. The next one starts on its own.