Alexa Play Eighties Rock

as i speak  
to the phantom woman  
i have a prediction:  
first song will be Bon Jovi  
Living on a Prayer  
that will be good  
 
but no  
 
even better  
 
a guitar intro fills the air  
as energetically ecstatic  
as Manzarek's keyboard  
on Light My Fire  
spiritual rocket fuel  
a childhood portal  
into the vastness  
of the glittering night sky  
 
twenty years later  
I could still fly  
Sweet Child O' Mine  
jolted me  
enlivened me  
to something  
everything  
beyond the mundane  
cosmic caffeine  
just for the listening  
 
twenty something years after that  
on a Seattle stadium field  
a clear moonlit night  
a gentle breeze blowing  
my nephew and I are dancing  
to one Guns n' Roses song after another  
the band is playing to win  
the crowd is jubilant  
intermittent fireworks
fill the sky
 
as a single purple one  
begins to rise  
my inner cynic  
- an almost constant companion -  
is vacationing at a dream resort  
Just watch it said  
in a voice usually reserved for anticipated horrors  
The purple firework  
will rise heavenward  
impossibly high  
and then ...  
it will burst  
into a perfect little flower!  
 
 
it happened  
 
then November Rain  
followed by  
No...  
Yes smiles my inner cynic  
looking up from its umbrella drink  
Yes, they really are playing Layla  
and Axel Rose  
is going to play that piano bridge  
yes, the one that has always sounded to you  
like ascension  
like steps upward  
into a heaven more beautiful  
than you can fathom  
 
that happened too  
 
a song or two later  
Axel Rose is talking to the crowd  
in the background  
Slash  
looking youthful and fit  
plays a few flirty notes  
just a tease  
Of Sweet Child O' Mine  
 
even though  
I've paid over $200  
knowing I'll of course be hearing it  
I hear again  
that stupid hushed No  
No like an utterance  
 during sexual ecstasy so intense  
anything more would be agony  
 
and then the song starts for real  
the crowd shouts in joy  
forty thousand  
dance as one  
an ecstatic tribe  
in a microcosmic  
moonlit  
utopian world  
 
 
in my favorite chair  
my mind drifts back to the present  
I listen to the end of the song  
sated by my happy memory  
anticipating big, new experiences  
feeling optimistic about life  
ready to seize the rest of the day  
 
and then the next song comes on  
 
it's a dopey ditty  
by former greats  
singing unmelodically  
about building their city from rock and roll  
 
"Yeah" says my inner cynic  
back home from its vacation  
"then they ruined it with this song"  
 
suddenly  
the dishwasher needs to be unloaded  
the litter box needs to be cleaned  
lesson plans need to be finished  
my sweet mom has dementia  
all the great rock stars are dying  
and I may never find true love again  
 
 
thanks a lot Starship