you don’t realize
when you go from
young punk with a
molotov in a
(horribly misguided)
che guevara shirt
into an old man
in a fuck reagan
shirt stretched
across a distended
gut from all of
the processed foods
you once raged against

a bipolar disaster
borderline and always
fucking surviving

i was a byproduct
the lost generation
where we were too
young to understand
they had already
killed and cannibalized
the american dream

they left us alone
latchkey kids with
zero adult supervision
just the television
with an endless loop
of inane content made
to do nothing more
than pass the time
the nuclear family
in full meltdown state

we have lived the entirety
of our lives in a state of war
they killed peace for good
in the seventies
the eighties lacked substance
unless it was abusable
which went from one crisis
coke became crack which
became crank which became
heroin which became fentanyl
a tale as old as recent memory

they stopped reporting news
they started pointing fingers
suspiciously the only notable
difference seemed to be
shade of brown

they keep us distracted
give us electric vehicles
casually leaving out
the pollution mining
the components costs
while the bottom majority
decides which necessity
they can go without

i am so desensitized
i can’t recall which
disaster and once
in a lifetime event
to fucking reel from
i watched in horror when
the challenger exploded
while sitting in school
where they taught us
to hide under our desk
if the nukes fell
as the cia sold crack
to fund secret wars
watched as we invaded
kuwait live on cnn
saw the second plane
hit the twin towers
was warned of deadly plagues
from aids to sars until
covid actually shut down
the world as we sat paralyzed

all while unwittingly
witnessing the slow death
in gurgling sputters of
democracy as we knew it

so excuse a bitter old punk
for scoffing at whatever
new apocalypse rains down
we knew everything was fucked
before the internet illuminated
the pockets of hell everyone
else seemed to just ignore
they convinced us to leash
ourselves to invasive electronic
surveillance in the guise of
mindless devices we have
become so addicted to while
ignoring the fine print where
we sold our souls for likes
from bored sheep who just want
to fit in somewhere on this
sinking fucking vessel
keeping us paranoid about
supposed boogeymen who want
to destroy our way of life
as the bastards in charge do
the very things they decry

the creature comforts slowly
kill us as we seek any relief
from the undulating anxiety
an endless cycle of poisons
for the soul, the mind, and
the only planet capable of
sustaining a suicidal species
exchanging molotovs for a
case of white claws and the
anthems of revolution for
mindless pop songs we can
dance on the grave of hope to

the revolution wasn’t televised
it was villainized and digitized
and throttled by the corporations
who have more rights than any
of the consumers they denigrate