(after Kerri Shying)
Born in the '50s
and now in my 60s
child of a more affluent age
of parents of the big war
grandparents of the prohibition
and the depression
they all drank like fish
and smoked up a storm
(who were lucky and who died)
then in the '60s
times were a-changin'
for honesty
we thought
useless work was inimical
devote it differently
the world might be a better place
some fought hard against
what the world had become
we were confident children
educated within an inch of our lives
chosen to know what we should protest
we lied we cheated we dodged the draft
(they were extraordinary times)
so we rolled our eyes
and we fixed our little joints
and we smoked like fish
only to learn later
the workers couldn't mobilise
there was no counter-culture
the tribes would not unite
or as some suspected
war was an inseparable disease
the paranoia was justifiable
wearing Levi's® wasn't democratic
and then as now quite hard
to get people off their asses
ReplyDeleteIt's just my story or part of it,
I'm sure everyone's got one.
So true, and yet we hoped, and marched, and marched again.
ReplyDelete...and will march again
Deleteand now those jeans are torn to shreds
ReplyDeletebefore they're even worn
but only to tell how rich I am
gruesome music to go
Deletewith the gruesome jeans
chained to a tree
ReplyDeleteNot thrown out
just backburned
idealism still visits
on a rainy day
They were extraordinary times - the lying, cheating, dodging the draft, protesting, Bob Dylan, the joints etc etc ... but it's great to see that much more than remnants of them survive - and I'm not just talking about the poets (!!!) - but also some of the idealism and social justice stuff - I see with my students who are in their 20s!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear!
Delete