NEGATIVE ABSOLUTE
Any day now you can expect
the age to come together
in its own fixed image.
There will be no broken glass.
The jigsaw cracks, painted black,
will make a Roualt mirror.
Then we will truly see ourselves
as the headlines say we are,
creatures of disaster.
The No. 1 Song in the Hit Parade
will be I Hate You, and ugly
the keyword in fashion ads.
Children will hug their witch dolls,
blow atom bubbles in glee
and play the most exciting games.
Punishment will be their only
reward and all the villains
heroes in their goblin tales.
Every man will be Satan
of his own dungeon
and no place like hell.
Machines pretending to be
human will evoke what's left
of our pity and laughter.
Manquakes, nightmares and fallout
will lead to our final triumph.
Only the worst will survive.
To prevent immunity
strict controls will be enforced
against pure food and drink.
Anyone caught sober or happy
will be exiled to the upper air
and banished from darkness.
Mentally accelerated
ones will be confined to wards
in quarantine hospitals.
Our most ardent wishes will be
for illness, failure and misery.
We will wear bad luck charms.
There will be more solutions
than problems in the race
for non-existence.
Traffic will be by tunnel
and invariably fatal
to minimize upkeep.
All-risk benefits will be
socialized on a single
pay-as-you-go tax plan.
To save time and expense
cemeteries will provide
one-room efficiencies.
Everything will be reduced
to simple essentials.
We will need very little.
Books will be easy to read
backwards or upside down
and even without looking.
Music will be produced by noise
in various degrees
and ingenious combinations.
A few zoos and museums
will be allowed to preserve
some relics of art and nature.
As a change from monotony,
schools and churches will be open
on special anniversaries.
We will be too busy dying
the rest of the time to think
or believe in anything else.
We can hardly wait for that day.
It should be coming soon.
The news is getting worse and worse.