The Youth

Blessed be the youth
and fuck the youth
as they dismiss the past
and caress the old mistakes

Blessed be the youth
and fuck the youth
as they eat the best
and slip away to new feasts

Fuck the flat-footed youth
who will not flee though we scream run
Bless the fleet-footed youth
who flatten and hold on tight

Bless the youth
who manage some surprise
at every vintage act of oppression
gussied up as new

Fuck the youth
who turn away from intersections
with a headdress
and a stupid rap on their lips

I alternately bless and condemn youth
as I have alternately blessed and condemned those my age
Blessings for being human
Condemnation for imperfectly feeling humanity

We live in a time of great fuckery
and grand blessing
and cannot always tell the difference
or balance well between those poles

so fuck and bless the youth
for their maddening cavalier living
for their unwillingness to stop
for their inability to avoid our mistakes