“Sandwiched between 80 million baby boomers and 78 million millennials, Generation X—roughly defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1980—has just 46 million members, making it a dark-horse demographic.”—Time Magazine, April 2008
Riding the wave of the dark horse demographic,
latch-keyed and keyed up on Kool-Aid and MTV.
Summers, we read (in secret) heavy stuff like Lolita,
flirting with disaster at keggers—wondering
if older boys would bite. It is true
that anything we got our hands on was inclined to
become extinct: many of us walking around
with a bell stuck in our throats as soundtracks to youth amassed—
from MJ’s sparkly glove to punk rock’s rebel calls. Worlds away,
Mr. Gorbachev tore down the Wall, the terror of Soviet invasion
gone from our dreams. On to big hair! Big ballads! BMX bikes,
flannels,
indie films with kids who understood our fight: remain
undefined, uncaged. Touching a bit of it all, knowing
the answer to what we want: everything that could burn.
Feral kids risking the scorn of stars,
always heading home past dark.
