THE 11TH HOUR AND GENERATION Z From New Verse News

I wrote the poem, THE 11TH HOUR AND GENERATION Z in the middle of September right after Wilson published her piece and it was published on New Verse News on Sunday, Oct 7.

The end of civilization?
Not the Greatest Generation
nor W,X,Y or the Boomers can face the Z
Who will come to be
, The doomsday eye witnesses
But WE
The 4F generation, Q-pals
are not, are not among the list
Our parents who chose fucking because
dust storms forced them into
a cave of credulity
under a hay rack of Russian thistles
they gathered for critters
too thin to butcher and stew

Once the war made them fat
those marked souls
traded gas rations for love children
one of those few
who only heard the
unremembered
stories
fireside chats on the radio

Our draft deferment education wasted
Some trudged off to our their own war
while the boomers ranted
we watched the Chicago seven on TV

10 week wonders with brains but no balls
who dodged mandatory ROTC in protest
Grew rebel hair to touch on our ears
We was the quick minted colonels
Boomers had to juice

The Q generation was unqualified
we was the wrong cohort
An anomaly conceived in a hurry
before a probable death
a hope to replace what was sure to be
a Patton wet dream
! duty and country--

An afterthought not worth counting
Thankful to be taken for granted
Thankful to be too old to care
About a death wish
We sold at the fish market
10 cents on a dollar

Smelling like Friday
It is only Tuesday when the Clock
reset by Eisenhower
grinds to a halt for lack of petroleum jelly
And an interstate highway
needing repair
can't take us away to our
Red Planet fantasy before
the nuclear snow storm
melts in a greenhouse
built without a plan

*title from article by Kelpie Wilson t r u t h o u t | Environmental Editor (Sep 14, 2007)