Washed-up Hippies in Revolt

Seniors are up in arms,
recalling peace and love
of the 1960s,
when the drugs expanded
their consciousness 
and the sex was 
plentiful and free,
and Jesus was that
milquetoast
gender-neutral dude
who loved everyone
in one drug-addled 
hippie orgy,
and those civil rights
marches on Washington, 
and those protests
against the war,
and living in the now
and finding God within...

Never growing up,
but aging nonetheless,
becoming more and more
irrelevant,
now blaming capitalism
for the rising costs
of groceries and healthcare
and warmer temperatures
in the summer of love,
freaking out at those
young guys in red Trump hats--
"Democracy in danger!
Another Hitler coming!"
they scream like broken
records--"fuck MAGA, fuck Trump!"--
teaching hate to their kids
under the pretense of love
and tolerance--
going back to good old violence
that was conveniently omitted
in the emancipation
of their enlightened
souls.


  October 20, 2025
--Alexander Shaumyan