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.