written in 1994
welcome to the post me
ages ago i was modern
but that became passé
so i became post-modern
which is to say
that i reverted to pre-modern behavior
but with a revisionist twist
now don’t confuse that with neo
which really is modern all over again
though maybe with new materials
i’m still me
but different
i don’t mean to boast
but i’m post
or was
why does something
which seems so right at the moment
suddenly not work for you
or one
or more precisely me?
i’m sorry
but post-modern
grew boring
left me snoring
so i deconstructed
let my seams show
shoved my rough edges in your face
and let you make what you could of them
however
there’s a very fine line
between deconstructed
and just plain sloppy
so i moved to
post-deconstructionalism
which meant the edges were still rough
but prettier
and now there are times
i don’t know what i am
definitely post-queer
which is not that far removed
from the way we were gay
in the nottoodistant past
but the lane’s not quite as fast
sort of post-lude
(or –lewd?)
i guess ‘m post-feminist
because i think women
should be perfectly free
to bake cookies
if they feel the urge
and i hope some of those merge
with my taste buds
i’m post-abstinence
in a big way
not that i ever denied myself much
oh maybe the inclination
to fly to bolivia on a whim
or swing out on a limb
by a ring in my nose
but it wasn’t that hard
to forego those
lately i feel more like post-toast
which is something like bread
that’s been browned
but with all the toast part scraped off
not quite fresh bread
it’s been put to the flame
or at least coils bearing a german name
you can’t really see where
the heat has been felt
but post-toast does cause butter to melt
who knows what i’ll be
when we next get together
depends on the trends
and who’s posting the weather
whatever i am
i’ll like it the most
the next time you see me
i might be post-post