Edison, Thomas Alva (Historical) Poem by Spock the Vegan

Thomas Edison was my inspiration when I was a lad.
An inventor was what I wanted to be.
Today he is painted in a light that is bad.
Even though more than 2000 patents had he.

At 12 he got work as newsboy for the railway.
His spare time was spent in experimentation.
This was his ticket to begin his invention heyday.
He made a telegraphic repeater for the railroad station.

His greatly improved telegraphic apparatus was prime.
His machines for quadruplex and sextuplex transmission
made possible multiple messages on one line at the same time.
His carbon microphone improved Bell's telephone system.

His DC electricity was the standard of the time.
He was called the 'Wizard of Menlo Park.'
His purchase of the light bulb patent wasn't a crime.
And his invention of the phonograph wasn't a lark.

His kinetoscope was the first machine to produce
motion pictures by rapid succession of individual views.
With his kinetoscope and phonograph he produced
the first talking moving pictures. That got good reviews.

In 1878 Edison was appointed Chevalier
of the Legion of Honor of France, and Albert medal
of the Society of Arts of Great Britain in a later year.
In 1928 he received the Congressional gold medal
'for development and application of inventions that
have revolutionized civilization in the last century.'

He will always be remembered for making the light
bulb practical by trying >1500 things without cessation
for the filament to make it last and to make it bright.
He said 'Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.'