The Committee to Nuke Elysium

mason-mem:

What would we be now kids if we were called the insects of the sea

If we were all aquatic arthropods whatever would we be

If we’d gone through a complex larval stage and formed a bony hide

& if we ranged from microscopic size right up to 12 feet wide

Whatever would we be • Answer me anyone

We’d be an old crustacean would we • We’d be a crustacean

What would we be now kids if we had dirty walls of landlord green

If we had fifteen sets of pay TV and one pinball machine

And an arrival and departure board and fifty plastic chairs

A hari krishna guy and two bag ladies picnicking on the stairs

Whatever would we be • Answer me anyone

We’d be an old bus station would we • We’d be a bus station

What would be be now kids if we were yellow, red, white, striped, or pink

And if our fragrance was a lot like cloves, or so some people think

And if our Latin name was Dianthus Caryophyllus

And when our blooms were measured they could reach 10 centimeters plus

Whatever would we be • Answer me anyone

We’d be a big carnation would we • We’d be a big carnation

What would we be now kids if we had formed a fellowship of sorts

To save the lobster who would wear a flower stapled to his shorts

And who would crawl beneath the transit center thru the pipes and wires

And who would lie there smelling like a clove, three feet below the tires

We’d be the foundation • To save the crustacean

Wearing a carnation • Under the bus station

WHATEVER WOULD WE BE

©1992 L&P Berryman