1989 Memories By Todd Shively

Memories Of A High School Metal-Head

Somewhere between
The misty cold rains
of Winter
And the feverishly warm winds
of Autumn.
There we lie
Among the suburban slums
on the edge of town,
Where turned up train tracks
with rusted rails
And band names spray – painted
on store alleyways
Depicted the landscape
of our teenage years.

A time when we only had
a 30 minute warning
Before the Nukes from Russia hit us.
So with nervous fingers holding those keys
In those missile silos –
The brink of our extinction
Was a reality that we faced every day !
How strange that only a decade
of the century was left,
But the end of 1999 seemed
Like a thousand years away!

Leather jackets, long hair, high top sneakers
and ripped jeans.
Rebellious youth.
A few generations ago
perhaps we’d be called Beatniks.
The pecking order and our social rank
Were clearly defined, we could hold our own.
Neither the lowest class,
Nor the adored.
Respected,.. yet often despised.
Seen as white trash,
dope smokers,
Except when others wanted some!

We partied along the riverside,
In the woods and by the tracks
and anywhere else
we could crash.
Music, girls, booze and weed,
No futures planned – I’m sure.
How stark, bleak and meaningless
life seemed
in those dark grey days.
But then there always was
the wonder of
Where we would be tomorrow,
or maybe just the
same
As the day before!

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