Millennial
You have had your time old man
Raised behind cold barricades
Fear fills you
Inheriting the earth
You saw the pinnies stripped away
Left you naked
Made you afraid
You take a last gasp of easy power
Parading trophies to win applause
Voicing your dark doubts to hear them echoed back
Louder
But we are not afraid
We have been bonded to our sisters and our brothers
Since birth in hot pot families
Since we could slide a sticky finger across a screen
Since we learned our fight for home is not against each other
We know what must be done.
You have had your time old man.
© Katherine Dewar – 11 November 2016 – KatherineDewar.net
I ‘m a novelist but sometimes things bust out as poems. I’m Gen-X so this is for many of us and many of our parents, but mainly for most millennials. I’m not american but we are all in this together.
Where less than half of voters in the 2016 USA election voted for the new President, the proportion of support from younger voters was significantly lower. This reflects a global trend towards more tolerant values among younger people who are more likely to be concerned about climate change and see themselves as citizens of the world. The character Ruby, in my novel Ruby and the Blue Sky, was inspired by ‘millennials’ I’m fortunate know.
