Shots were fired in Dallas
three years before I was born
a Baby Buster,
middle child,
misfit,
neither x nor y,
too young for Studio 54,
too old for a mosh pit.
Raised on a steady diet of
television and Tang.
Vietnam was a series of
black & white images
while drawing with Crayolas.
Watergate was background noise
while eating TV dinners.
We carried The Force
in our back pockets,
lived the Wonder Years
on a white Huffy with the banana seat-
nobody had a helmet,
everybody had a latchkey.
After school,
we watched the Brady Bunch
dreamed of Walton's Mountain
and grieved for the perfect family.
We witnessed the Berlin Wall
come crumbling down
like Jericho,
and watched the Gulf War
from a comfortable chair
while eating a bag of microwave pop corn.
We saw that despite superstition
and social panic,
a millennium ends seamlessly
where another begins.
A graduate degree is
no longer a guarantee.
Over-educated and under-employed
Baby Boomers clog
the arteries of upward mobility.
Busters work two McJobs
and still can’t pay the rent.
The New York Times already
wrote our obituary.
Our shelf life was shorter
than the Travolta Stance
or the mullet.
Gen X is poised
to take over
the 18 - 39 target market.
The Me Generation vs. the
Why Me? Generation,
more likely to see a UFO
than a social security check.
Paralyzed by our inheritance:
racial strife, homelessness,
fractured families and federal deficits.
Caught between a thong
and Depends.
A contest entry
- Pimp up my honorable mention or trophyless by leander.
400 points, ended December 4, 2007, 86 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 20 of 20
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Wow, this is powerful and very well written indeed. Not a word is wasted. My favourite line is "Baby boomers clog the arteries of upward mobility". The whole verse and the one that follows it are particularly hard hitting. Very well done indeed!
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This is not to long at all if you lived it.
Exceptional I could almost chant it.
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Though maybe a bit long, you've done a great job with this. I actually didn't lose my interest so that's very good huh
Actually, I like the references to the television-programs you used here, though some of them I'm not familiar with because Belgian television is otherwise.
Very deep poem, and it took me actually a few reads to be able to get the most out of it
Very well done and thank you for entering the contest!
Leander -
I can relate a lot to this ... my parents were born during the World War Two years and didn't marry until they were 30. By then, most of their contemporaries were married with children approaching the teen years. So I've always felt a bit of a misfit, slipping into the gaps between the generations where I should have been born. I'm not a buster, but I'm not really a Gen X'er either.
I read your reply to a comment before mine where you said that we probably didn't have the racial inequality in Australia that America had. Maybe that's true, but it wasn't until the 1960's when Aborigines were legally entitled to vote. Also, the White Australia policy, which restricted non-white immigration to Australia, was still in effect, only being abolished in 1973. We didn't have Watergate, but we did have The Dismissal, when the government of the day was sacked by the Governor General (the Queen's representative in Australia). So, although this is, of course, American in theme, there are still strong parallels with what was happening in other countries in the same era ... and being able to capture that is the mark of a great writer. Congratulations.
Peace,
rose anne. -
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Everything I ever heard about the Aborigines led me to believe that they were and always had been revered by the Australian government. I guess that is what I get for trusting National Geographic
Thank you for reading and for teaching me something.
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You placed the chisels that formed each generation with precision and you have created an excellent verbal sculture of the social changes we have experienced.
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wow that was a very meaningful poem, nice write-mary jane
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Fantastic
This was just perfect. I'm envious that I did'nt dream this one up as every one of these memories are still crystal clear in my aging mind. I shall be saving this as a favorite. Thank you so very much for the critique on my poem 'Self inflicted blues'. I will be making those changes but i'd rather wait until you help with any revision's. So yes i accept your offer as this remains my favorite piece. It was my first, and since writing it, my lifetime struggle with trichotillamania has virtually disappeared. There appears to be some magic healing in my pen(for me anyways). Thank you again, Chrissy
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Hello and welcome to my contest. Being that the contests are now 'blind' and I don't know who wrote them, I can no longer read people's poetry and note their progress from one contest to the next. Also, I will then need to use my disclaimer part of reviews, for those who have never recieved a review before, as I don't know if you're new or not. (unless I happen to recognize your style of writing and know who it is)
You're welcome to put your name in your author notes, if you're one of the ones that likes me to note your progress in your writing.
"The original disclaimer":
~I feel it necessary to tell people unaccustomed to me, a little something about my personality. And that is, I'm inclined to be bluntly honest. Not mean, just straight forward about the impressions your piece left me with and suggestions I might have. You are not obligated to change a thing. But it is always wise to at least take them into consideration.~
That being said, let's move onto your piece. It's interesting, to say the least. I often find generational poems to be interesting though. I see what I myself can recall, and where I fit in. I was Generation X myself, but I know of all the things you spoke of, some in more abstract terms however.
Poetically speaking, I have mixed feelings about this piece. My thoughts are that, are that the poem is pretty lengthy. And though that's not inheriently a bad thing, when you tend to stay in a certain mode (in this case, examples of the past) without shifting focus, it's far harder to carry that length. Or, so is my opinion. I felt my attention drifting here and there, and yet going back, I couldn't point and say 'this part was uninteresting, or that one was' because none of it was uninteresting, just too much. Do you know what I mean?
So I think you ought to consider condensing this down some. I know people have personal attachments to there examples, but I think the skills show in the writing of this, show you have a mind to already understand what I mean about making it more 'reader friendly'. You just can't afford to allow your readers attention to wane, if you want to make a point.
The last thing to look at, is the final lines. In a more average poem, you could use that, and it would be a great ending. But I feel that here, it is just anti-climatic. My reasoning is simple. You've done comparison and example of the times, through out the whole piece. So to use the same pattern in the final lines, is really death. This piece deserves better. I'm not saying this to be a bitch or to imply I'm so far above you, just presenting how it reads to me, and offering you outside perspective.
Either way, still a nicely worked piece. Thanx for coming to play~
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A very powerful write. You had me captivated from beginning to end.
Some of it I could personaly relate to and some of it I could not so I don't know where that leaves me. LOL. I think I'm generation X.
There was one stanza that I think had a mistake if not then its just above me. lol
A graduate degree
no longer a longer a guarantee.
Is that a mistake?
Anyway, once again a great write. Keep them coming and blessed be. -
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Ah, that was a mistake, and thank you so much for pointing it out! I thought I had fixed it, but for some reason, things around here don't always stay fixed
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So you didn't change the world? Neither did any generation before or after, we are still trying! You gave me a wonderful memory though, for Disneyland was a required viewing every Sunday night here in Australia, I loved it as a child and it still makes me cry, even the newer ones although Bambi remains a favorite. Oh and I still Mosh pit lol, you are never too old when you're a boomer, you just push the youngun's out of line!
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Actually, the baby boomers did bring around a lot of social change here in the US- I don't think you had the problems in Australia that we had here with racial inequality though. But there were/are 72 million boomers, and they still dominate the political world and hold the better jobs. My generation, the baby busters came along after the pill and legalized abortion, at a time when people were waiting to start families, so there are only 19 million of us. We are a little bitter that the Boomers beat us to everything, and either fixed it, broke it, or just plain refused to share with us
We are a generation of whiners Thanks for commenting- for even taking time to read,
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wow
how true hoe true,the world is so different now from when we grew up im a product of baby boomer i guess born 58 but anyway some things are better but lots are worse,at least we live in america where we can speak our mind even if everyone dont agree great job keep up the good writing -
Impressive
I admire your ambition in attempting to encapsulate nearly half a century of American life as seen through the eyes of personal experience. The poem, although in my opinion over-long, works well. My only quibble would be that it's perhaps too American specific to have universal appeal. I'm thinking of things such as brand-names, TV shows, etc., some of which would mean nothing to a non-American reader like myself. However, there is much to admire in your piece.
Bill
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Pow!
You really clobbered this one. "Punchy" would undersell it hugely. There were maybe four different places where I was ready to say something like, "What a great line to end a poem!" Three of those were followed somewhat later by lines that ended the poem even better. It's just that last one you didn't manage to one-up. Thongs and depends. Quite an enjoyable read.
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When I read this, I thought of this longer write I posted awhile back (since removed). I loved every single line of it. Every one of them said something significant, and I liked the way they came together, so it didn't make a lick of difference to me that the poem was built of smaller ideas born independently of one another. I probably edited that poem 250 times. When people said the poem was "too thorough," or had too many loud voices vying for attention, I understood what they meant, ignored it, and still don't regret it.
All the lines in this are well-rendered, and they work well when lined up nose-to-tail. Nose and tail are pretty far apart here; I could go either way, but it could perhaps be argued that this would hit harder if streamlined slightly. If this poem is to you as mine was to me, you don't care about that.
One nit: "millennia" is plural for "millennium."
Great write.
~Morgan
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This has to win. It is perhaps the best poem I've read in a while.
I'm glad you kept this:
"between Kent State
and Columbine"
and of course the thongs and depends.
I really do love this one. More likely to see a UFO than SS. Isn't that so damn sad? But true.
There is so much in this poem. This is truth, all of it. I could comment for days, and still come up with more about this that makes it poetry.
Yeah, this has to win.
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Wow. I really enjoyed reading this piece. It made me stop and think about a couple of things. The best of luck to you in the contest.
Kari -
quite diverse topic at hand you have here, it speaks many languages of different generations and the gaps between it all. good flow and meter. I enjoyed the ending the most
kinda lengthy if you care to edit a bit.
Tamara
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I know what your saying. I may be only 18 and havent lived even half of my life yet, but even I miss the good old days before Mobile Phones adn DVD's. When we had to use a remote control that was attatched to the TV by a wire. Today isn't what it used to be. X
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