And what if one day
everyone wants to oom-pah-pah-pah
and sing “roll Out the Barrel”?

What if “In Heaven There is No Beer”
replaces the National Anthem? What if large guys
with accordions take over MTV?

Just think: if polka music becomes the rage,
the fact that in your childhood the radio
was perpetually tuned to a station

that only played Whoopee John
and the Deutchmasters will be a legend
that impresses your grandchildren.

Tell us, they’ll say, how they played polkas
between something called “The Livestock
Market” and “The Trading Post,”

and how you begged your parents to turn the dial
to Elvis, Buddy Holly, Duane Eddy, and Dion
(whoever they were)

and then tell us how they refused—
how they kept the polka going and danced
circles around the kitchen.