Keep Art Alive :: “Pretty Hardcore” :: Art by Derek Gores

“Here we are now,
entertain us.”

The night lights compete with the memory of a pale moon
as we broadcast confessions across the sky
through polluted airwaves
we squint our eyes as if looking at the sun
but daylight never comes this way anymore

The leftovers scramble for shelter
taking refuge in the underground tunnels
as the city above becomes vacant
broken neon lying prone on the asphalt
the AFTER-math of this last after party

We become heathens and whores
trading unraveled skin for fifteen-minutes of warmth
the rest of us dissolving into the ether
our 145-word count just the repeat of help, I’m alive
a social media SOS that we all ignore

But, this is the future, she says
the one we all paid to see

Smells Like Teen Spirit :: Patti Smith