Pall malls and a player piano
The dog eared pages of some manifesto
Souvenirs in a Bagombo Snuff Box
A satiric smirk behind a thick gray mustache
Membership to the ghost shirt society
And some bad chemicals that made me do strange things
Consciousness of a human condition
And a taste for science fiction
Ice nice and some polywater
A litho print from a potato barn
And air of contempt toward Nick Nolte
A fear of bombs and love and the 22nd century
And so it goes
And so it goes
Until you're unstuck in time
Fates worse than death
Don't hold your breath
There's an asterisk before your name
Hi ho, hi ho
Low-brow jabs and a coffee high
Cautionary tales, truths, and lies
A vision of a brave new dystopia
Of technological advancement and waxing nostalgia
Some granfalloons and wampeters
And an unclaimed birthday cake
History is a list of surprises
Addressed through metafiction devices
Collected works, essays, and shorts
And the ashes from the Drake School furnace
"There'' one rule that I know of, babies
Goddammit, you've got to be kind."
We are what we pretend to be
So we must be careful of what we pretend to me
These are things I stole from Vonnegut's grave