it was going to be
a thing of wonder
we’d find cures for everything
and look after each other
abolish money
national boundaries
and the Bomb
there’d be cities on Mars
and the visionary structures
of Boulez Stockhausen and Cage
would be revealed for what they are
and give rise to a music
of the spheres
as yet unimagined
and rock jazz and the blues
would evolve into a psychedelic punk-rock
the likes of which
no-one has ever heard
that makes people want to dance
in new ways and go out
and change the world
and trains would become monorails
sliding silently between
sustainable solar-powered eco-communities
each with its own
stately pleasure-dome
where citizens might wander
through gardens bright with sinuous rills
where blossoms many an incense-bearing tree
and androids barely distinguishable from human beings
would become concert pianists
and everyone would have a great time
the musician Frederic Rzewski once wrote
music probably cannot change the world
but it is a good idea to act as if it could
it follows from that
that if life (like music) is an art
the least we can do
is live as if all this were possible
and of course
it’s only 2023
there’s still 77 years to go
Dominic Rivron
Illustration Nick Victor
.