AT A FUTURE ROBOT DRIVE IN

At a future robot drive-in

you can catch a movie
in five romance languages
munch upon a French luncheon
with a spinach baguette
of brie cheese and roast veal

or crunch on a fast food desert
fresh from the kitchen chef
the robot in a sweat shirt
sets these fruits before us
in a vast seasonal meal
with pushcarts pulled by hand
by the boy band
"Rational kids of Descartes"
holding up an international menu
we flirt and toast the new year
with a white wine drink,
or read a first edition of Flaubert,
as you feed on a croissant
hearing loud Gregorian chants
at a personal singing audition
or swing dance on the floor,
while listening to a Mozart sonata
or a Bach cantata or two
the electric eccentric robot
is always ready to party
at the hallway recital door
waiting for customers
just like me and you,
so adjust the robot
vetting on a robo call
to showcase a filmed story
of ghosts by Edgar Allen Poe
or play automatic chess
checkers or dominoes
or take a perfect guess
at betting on daily lotto
you can win in backgammon
and summon a slight shadow
near the cafe's lottery
when luck follows us
as any game host knows,
now meet this mechanical robot
now mounting up n the stage
boasting he does not age
in the spin bottle corner
who walks the corridor
as if searching like a hound
sounding out the coroner's
love woes all over
the neighborhood,
our robot writes and teaches
about a politician's speeches
and preaches then acts up
in a kingly or queenly
stylishly wanton fashion
as a knowing Shakespeare
with the poet's standard bearer
here he is in the round theater
proudly offering to dress, snap
or slap you up or down
in  a uniform to crown you
or offering to please
dressed a teasing circus clown,
or if you have the passion
to make a journey
in far outer space
you may dial Jupiter 101
or five five nine Aspinwall
on a wired Skype phone
to make a robo call to request
taking your ticket up to Pluto
or you may chase the robot
who thinks he is
now running the human race,
see this picture of him
in a starry fire storm
as he takes a capsule
or module to pass
over planets and stars
the robot has an adventure
in perfect form,
as he can supply heat
to make you warm
an oil change or gas
and fix your ignition,

listen to your heart beat
from its own condition

as you listen to live jazz,
or trace a weather report
at the range of coming snows
wading in black ice
to map and trace
his own space of perdition,

adjust to hire
this desired robot we named
go-go boy
is to adjust for a multi-task
all you need do is ask,
he will work at your home
thrilled to cut the grass
with an off season pass,

or you may pick up
this bowed robot's head
who moves his telling face
bunking out at bed time
even smiles at saying grace,
for a plug nickel or dime
he will put logs on your furnace
with a sudden conflagration,
to heat up your wooden stove
or get you a latte or tea cup
from his roving service station,
this robot moving machine
will also give out a ration cards
or food stamps for life
or choose your husband
or buy a life guard for a wife,
he even offers you beer or ale
in his pleasured craft
to cruise uncharted territory
with ardent first glances
offers a chance to tell tales
or an even a horror story
even as the full headlines fails
to give the robot any glory
it's a hell of an offering
to pull some strings
off his musical deadlines
with full time romances,

he may even use
your five starred identity card
to offer permission of a shower
live massage, Botox or bath
as a loving health gift
in giving you a face lift
to enhance your marred lips
as you leisurely wait to forgive,
as this robot has been taught
the right metamorphosis message
for an hourly apocalypse
of how to lock in a robot's hips
at time and a half,
he has a special lyrical way
that will accommodate you
at night, trust me,
to disclose all secrets
of Peter Pan
as a sprite to Tinkerbell
with his bright plan
for introducing
laughing fairy dust
and proudly recite
and disclose to the crowd
from his poetry span
in wealth of his own prose
left on the library shelf
for any woman or a man,
or you can find this robot
hiding at the rose bushes
in a metaphysical way
by an arbitrary maypole
doing his physical exercise
as he pushes and strolls
at Christmas in the North Pole
with Santa Claus
or be ar Macy's to choose a hat
or winter coat
there you might gain

a better life long friend
or send out a love note

written as a letter
by a better bard
from a Muse a century ago,
this robot even can be a troll
to change his wires or tires

or your novel's ending
so why are you pretending
not to notice when he retires,
he will also put on the light
to wake an all night lover
as you expire
under your sleepy cover,
yet he cannot feel or desire
what is human or normal
at his Empire room dorm
he is only acting informal
for being true to form,
he may compose a new play

have an audition
for two pianos or tuba
in his own robotic way,
have a drink of wine
or dine out
under a wellspring fountain
or enjoy the summer
at the mountains
or at Aruba's beach resort
and play any summer sport
tennis, ping pong, or soccer
or reserve a Cuban cruise,

or cut a voice obituary short

for a family of the departed
or at any nemesis you choose,
watch a tall Texas twink
who seems off his rocker
in a weird cowboy outfit

get carded,
once the same robot
gets started at his game
he thinks of telling your future
with a tarot card
or a Chinese fortune cookie
the robot has your back
to help your kid play
hockey or hookey
he offers us a popcorn snack
from a concession stand

as he beeps his horn
to get Good'n Plenty
with a Mars bar
or take a box of crackerjacks
or feed us from the racks
to eat a ricotta cheese pizza
with lox or salmon
with a hot luncheon bagel
and repeat a quote in German
from Marx or Hegel
together with a boxed lunch
in the rush
of a crunch snack time
or write this poem
with a will to survive
as this future robot reads to us
you may still be alive.