half dreamt, half predicted

[apiphile]

the ghost of my future self invited me to a housewarming

i turn up at the party
in a t-shirt which reads
this isn't what i wanted
but i don't know how to ask for that.

across the hallway
they're waterboarding the host's
soft-eyed golden retriever
over some typing error.

in the downstairs lav
two girls are doing lines
of self-delusion and consumerism,
and they stare like midnight raccoons
until i close the door.

the kitchen is full of geniuses
solving problems not yet created,
to an audience of uneaten snacks,

and in the living room,
i can't hear a word
over the sound of broken speakers
hissing the names of the dead.

i want so badly to leave
but in the room where they lay the coats
i cannot find my skin
and without it i'm the same as before.