[ SciFi & Fantasy ] Dear Steampunk Alice  

  
If I take the steam  
out of your steampunk---  
would you then only be  
one of many girls  
adorned with junk?  
   
Would it restore colorful curls  
to your straight'n, dyed    
death black hair?  
   
Will it kill the dream  
of being there, not here  
in an alternative today  
cobbled half-assedly  
with yesteryear?  
   
Why, dear child?  
   
Why is your mind  
so preoccupied    
with these things--- 
brassed fittings  
leathery gear  
copper tubings -  
wild machinations of Mankind  
having fulfilled function    
destined to die    
as new technology    
drew near and nigh?  
   
Look here, Alice Lukinglast!  
Try as you might    
to keep alive the past--- 
   
presently there is nowhere to run  
not a hole in which to hide  
   
even with this escape of yours  
hatched