The following poem is included in Michael Brownstein’s book Slipping the Leash, to be published this November by Dr. Cicero Press. Join Michael at The Alchemist’s Kitchen on Monday, November 20, where he will be reading selections from his book. The evening with conclude with a discussion with Daniel Pinchbeck about issues raised in the poems. Learn more.
After patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles
We won’t be wage slaves anymore
Instead we’ll do whatever brings
The famous archaic smile of prehistory
To our lips and that’s what we’ll
Call work because after patriarchy
Collapses and capitalism crumbles
Greed will melt away like evil ice cream
Leaving no trace, not even in museums
And with confident, unarmored hearts
We’ll gladly share what we have
With whoever shows up at our door
As long as the light of what used to be
Called God shines in their eyes
After patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles
An easygoing form of baseball
Will be the prevailing sport and we
Won’t care much who wins or loses
Because all of us, players and spectators
Will succumb to the mystical dimensions
Of the game, and after patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles, significant others
Of every possible sexual inclination
Will trust the way physical intimacy
Brings out the best in us
Because who’s kidding whom
We’re alive for a limited time only
And we own no one
And no one owns us
After patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles
We’ll get lost in each other’s
Trickster minds and bodies
Free to touch and let go
Touch and let go, sliding in
And out of kaleidoscopic embrace
As we make our way through
All of eternity like the stars
Like the clouds and the wind
Finding that our finicky personas
Matter less than we suppose
After patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles
We’ll lead a life we can barely
Imagine now, a strategy developed
Tens of thousands of years ago
By two-leggeds who roamed
Through jungles and forests, their
Longhouse kids raised communally
Leaving room for a wide-open journey
Without our usual rage for control
While making sure to care for
And pleasure everyone
After patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles
Nation-states will disappear
Humans streaming back and forth
Across abandoned customs checkpoints
Sharing skin colors and songs
Copyrighted by no one while we
Mingle on a never-ending playground
Stretching across the face of the Earth
A panorama without zoos or prisons
Without addiction to the profit motive
Without spending our productive years
Amassing and then guarding wealth
After patriarchy collapses
And capitalism crumbles
We’ll be closing in on
Clear-eyed, gracious, humble lives
At last finding a way to be sane
Together on this psychoactive planet
(“Heal me Mama, Mama heal me”)
While from far and wide
Throughout the infinite universe
Alien beings on millions of worlds
Beyond the constraints of space and time
Will look down at us in wonder
At what we’ve been able to pull off
Against all odds
And applaud
