i want to be reincarnated

i want to be reincarnated
as a beat poet
haunting a smokey
dark cafe
wearing black, a beret
and smoking filterless
cigarettes at the end
of a long, thin holder

i want to come back
as Cleopatra
lounging by the Nile
on a hot Egyptian night
Nubian fan wavers
standing on either side
stirring up a cool breeze
and not a snake in sight

i want to return
as Marie Antoinette
so that i can be kind
to the poor
handing out cupcakes
at the gates to Versailles
and ending my story
on a much happier note

i want to be born
as a small girl
in the fifties
on a farm
in rural Virginia
but this time
with kinder parents
and a pony