The Future

“For the first time I am older than I’ve dreamed of being” – Allen Ginsburg

I want a cat
That I’ll name General Mao
And dress up in red collars with pyramid studs
But I’m no communist
Not that it would be a bad thing if I was

I’ll skate around the world
Country by country
Until my lover calls me home
Saying my portion of the rent
Is overdo by longer
Than we’ve been together

My hair will be the color of my mood
And I’ll dress like Patti Smith did
When she was trying to get Mapplethorpe
To love her again
Except with a little more Elvira
And some leather

I will have a metallic pumpkin
With four wheels and a motor
And a decal of a flock of bats
What they’re running from
I don’t know
Maybe I’m just going too fast
So fast
That they can’t keep up

I’m going to live teetering
On a cliff by the ocean
Maybe in Mendocino or something
And I’ll write poetry everyday
And my lover will make coffee
Because he knows
That the brown liquid of life
Is what brought us together in the beginning
Besides grey matter and pheromones
Of course

I’ll live ‘til I’m desiccated
And they’re trying to get rid of me
Because I smell like old people
And patchouli
General Mao will be long buried
And my lover’s heart
Will sit on a shelf
in my teetering house
And watch me write
About how old I am.