We were goth kids too,
even before punk---
this was years ago
& look at kids now---
everyone dresses
as if everything
they wear is bought
& paid for at the mall;
where there are no malls
there is electrostatic
Victorian blondes
of the future come from
Gibson girl houses, turning
in vamps & strutting
naked into the ballroom & dancing;
We were goths then
dressed like something
from a Tim Burton---
We didn't know why
ghost cities were haunted
by those who could not
or would not  speak
for themselves:
HP Lovecraft
didn't write the Bible;
PK **** didn't
write graphic novels;
Ann Rice didn't
write great novels---
Kafka wrote great stories
but the Gothic novel
was an English invention
of the Romantics---