My generation 
has failed this country 

How we emerged 
from the sixties
came of age in
the seventies 
morphed as a whole
from justice-seeking
to profit making
above all 
by holding tight to 
old ways
old men
‘leading’ us 

This is what has 
gotten us 
to where we are now

We should have 
jettisoned them 
all those old men like
the dried, used up
old snake skins 
that they are

We should have 
mostly exited the stage 
by now
yet we trudge on
going nowhere 
more slowly

Our age shows

We have failed 
this country 
this culture
this society
my generation has

To my children, grandchildren
I say this with love:
you need to boot our asses
into the historical
oblivion to 
which we should have 
already retired.


– Mark Lucker
© 2026
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B017LALIES