He was inarticulate born
in Maelstrom's Chaos
fierce blinded needs
rushing wants
tenderness
lost
soul seeking
mumbling weaknesses
anger reeking
world hiding
from his smoldering eyes;
21st Century
Everyman
woman-seeking
crouch-reeking
needs failing
confusion reigning
hope leaking
from empty pockets
standing
tall
blinded;
needy
defiant
shrieking
drug taking
interning
waiting
tables
college missed
or educated;
10 dollar an hour slaving
home casted
living in the basement
twenty somethings
lost
found in careening
weekend fun-seeking
future
receding
receding
receding
clasping
her
and dreaming
receding
receding
tossed over
for the other
who seemed
beyond weekend flings.
Sensible choice,
she loved the wild one
too late
now gone.
Seems to portray sense of what young people's lives may be like today. But, if I hearken back to earlier times, I find a similar pattern among the young and restless. The Depression children were relatively lost until they found a purpose in World War II. The flower children throwing off the decadence of their parents, only to eventually embrace it. The baby boomers who could only think of making money with little sense of their future and their health. Each generation has its problems to overcome. And somehow, they overcome them.
This is not to discourage your story, but put it in perspective. You have a way, succinctly, of telling it like it is.
I think you meant to say, "she would have [chose] him."
A short story, but so much better written austerely and succinctly in this poem. The young man has a stretch of life ahead to open his eyes to more satisfying needs and wants, as does Everyman/Everywoman.
First Edition Translation of Teselas by Carmen Crespo X111 César Simón Poetry Prixe 2016 Translated from Spanish by Robin Ouzman Hislop and Amparo Arrospíde
