I 
& we thought the saddest day of our lives 
would be the day REM broke up but then we buried 
parents siblings & friends  
suffered divorces & bankruptcies 
& lived lives   

II 
let’s drive up an on-ramp in the wrong gear 
& I’ll show you a place I’ve never lived 
let me imagine hills quiver when the stick shift 
sticks in a hotwired Corolla & let’s laugh 
as we roll back with each stubborn thrust forward 
stunted by feeling gravity’s pull &  
expectations    

III 
& our grandfathers fought World War II 
& dragged us to the post office  
to register for the draft 
in case of World War III 
told us Reagan won’t start a war 
(probably) 
& I just wanted 
to watch MTV 
&  

IV 
the grandsons & granddaughters of the greatest 
generation set out to change the world struggled 
with eating disorders in dark corners never thinking 
global & acting local like our bumper stickers 
promised  

V 
& we drank first-generation Diet Coke & New Coke 
& listened to Kajagoogoo  
& the Valley rain pelt the glass 
of our first cars each bead peeling 
off a chip of chassis where even too shy shy shy 
we kissed our first girls & first boys 
& not our last as dome lights 
dimmed  

VI 
Wait… what?  

VII 
& it was the end of the world as we knew it & I felt 
kind of shitty if I’m being honest here & I was pissed 
my dad died of cancer the same week Kurt Cobain  
killed our generation off with selfish shots of bourbon & 
gunfire  

VIII 
we made mixtapes of songs we liked for girls 
we liked & boys we liked to express feelings 
we weren’t sure we liked telling them they had lips 
like sugar when others’ words spoke clearer 
than ours like when we lost our religion 
& weren’t sure we ever wanted to  
find it   

IX 
& find me doubled over in the Blue Anchor’s parking 
lot at closing time blacktop glistening under a turpentine moon  
& a drizzle thickening & happy hour three-for-ones 
regurgitate as murky texts typed in a shaky Uber home 
& I delete them like junk mail 
& boredom  

X 
& I set out to change the world but couldn’t find my way 
with a map & where are my car keys anyway 
& REM broke up  
& it wasn’t the saddest 
day of my life  
I just stood alone for an hour 
& breathed minor chords 
off a plate of dusty sky 
& 

David Colodney is a poet living in Boynton Beach, Florida. He is author of the chapbook, Mimeograph, and his poetry has appeared in multiple journals. A two-time Pushcart nominee, David has written for the Miami Herald and the Tampa Tribune and currently serves as an associate editor of South Florida Poetry Journal.