Then And Now

We were coffee shop prophets When Starbuck was a character Quoting Ibsen, Shaw, and Yeats Exact in predicting the downfall Of the country Of the society Of the arts We knew everything And voiced it in a Cacophony of catharsic certainty Individuality was our motto Toasted nightly with The same black coffee In the same white cups. We knew everything Then We sit now in polite conversation Stirring a low-fat latte, a cappi, expresso Recalling in exact detail (Maybe more colorfully) Clinging to a yesterday That never became a now Laughing Reciting rehearsed rhetoric Not wishing to admit We had all sold out.