Saturday 16 May 2020

The pre-history of the post-apocalypse




This is... the pre-history of the post-apocalypse


Saturday, twenty-first century.
Let's paint the floorboards red.
With a dress, a dress, a dress.

Philosophers say we must be living.
But I can't hear
One breath, one breath, one breath.

Alchemists write "the World must turn".
But I can't feel
Any breeze, any breeze, any breeze.

The last great voice of rock 'n' roll was
Lana Del-Fucking-Rey Or was it
Nick Cave, Nick Cave, Nick Cave?

This is the pre-history of the post-apocalypse. 
Broken down submarine hits the bottom of 
The sea, the sea, the sea.

In 1989, we knew every line.
"We Didn't Start the Fire"
We were the fuel, the fuel, the fuel.

Rent our bodies from the government.
Tells us the goodwill's spent.
Because we didn't buy it, buy it, buy it.

We all mistake the bad things change,
and the good remain 
the same, the same, the same.

Sitting in a parody of a sunny day.
No one gets to stay in a flash bulb moment.
It burns out, burns out, burns out.

Gluing back how those shredded affairs could have been.
Home recorded cassette tapes, touching lips.
What the nets dredge up when grief goes fishing.
 This is a checklist of the pre-history of the post-apocalypse.

 Seek an explanation by our nature.
Hindsight lies a useless mute.
Foresight blindly reaching out as the grave.

Surrounded by modern saviours.
They lost the power to save.
It's ok if you're not all that brave.

Three weeks until daybreak.
Longer depression breaks.
It's a chain of light and darkness anyway.

Empty opportunities is not to say
I didn't fill them.
It's that they cannot come again; it's always the way.

Life’s ups and downs remind me of
Graceful acrobatics
Back in the pre-history of the post-apocalypse.

Saturday, twenty-first century.
Let's spill a little, warm red.
In a glass, a glass, a glass.