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Sunday, October 07, 2007

THE 11TH HOUR AND GENERATION Z*

by HL


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, the Q-pals
are not, are not among that list
Our parents camouflaged credulity
forced them under dust storm clouds
beneath empty hay racks
covered with Russian thistles
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
fireside chats on the radio

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

10 week wonders with brains but no balls
who dodged mandatory ROTC in protest
Grew rebel hair that touched their ears
They was the quick minted colonels
Boomers had to juice

The Q generation was unqualified
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
About a death wish
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
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)


HL is a computer-nerd bicyclist who cranks out poetry as he rides along prairie grass and gravel roads. He says, "War is not the Answer / Ride a Bicycle," and more at cornfedtrouble.