Am I the Elder?

Born in the sixties,

from a jungle on the other side of the world,

body bags on the nightly news were counted.


Growing up in the seventies

those enemies became church refugees

dark skin, smooth voiced, heartthrobs


In the eighties, the world was mine

eager to explore and learn 

ready to make a dent of change


Real world crashed the nineties

living in a daily grind

paying back with nothing to pay forward 


The aughts, depressed mortality 

paternal loss looking for something 

shifting ideas and ideals


Teens gifted financial independence 

freedom to escape expectations 

filling someone else’s dreams


Now, the twenties, twist the flesh


hoping to be top shelf


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