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[John Wason]

                News and Prophecy for the "New" Year
                          by John Wason

            [ for Mike Lehman - sometimes news and prophecy
are NOT mutually exclusive  :-) ]


You Newspoets write about the news
like it's new.
"Hey, look at this!" you exclaim.
"Here's an example
 of human stupidity!
 Can you believe THIS?"

Ho hum.

Here's a prophecy for you.
A bit Americocentric, I'm afraid.
I apologize for my limitations in that regard.
But print it out for posterity if you want,
and by all means stone me 
if it doesn't come to pass.

We're just entering another cycle
of radical activism
like the 1960's.
Young people will dress funny
and wear their hair weird
to piss off their parents.
And they'll have ideals and causes once again 
(some of them) -
legitimate causes,
causes that have existed 
all along.
And there'll be protests.
Demonstrators will hurl their bodies 
against the barricades
in various cities
and flee tear gas
and there'll be some riots.
Maybe we'll call the police 'pigs' again.
There'll be bogus "conspiracy" trials.

We've built more prisons
and added a few new wrinkles
like "military tribunals"
but basically
it's the S.O.S.

This period of activism
will last about ten years.
The Baby Boomers,
who have largely forgotten the '60's
except in nostalgic reverie
and who now run corporations,
will support repressive measures
to protect their assets
and say cliched shit like
"America, love it or leave it!"
as they dangle safely 
above the blood-soaked earth
like fat pampered angels
with golden parachutes.

Ten or twenty years from now
the next generation of youth
will dress conservatively
and dream of money.

Technology will increase
at its usual exponential rate
and be used for evil
more often than for good.

Americans, ever gullible, 
and never truly learning 
anything of real value - 
certainly nothing from history - 
will keep guzzling oil,
and buying electronic toys
for themselves and their pets,
while the poor grovel
in the streets -

All,
all of them
permitted just enough latitude
to say what's on their minds
(which in most cases isn't enough
 to seriously compress their cervical vertebrae),
and to vote for two candidates 
rather than one,
so that they might enjoy the illusion
of freedom.

The Dominant Culture
will go on about its business.
The Revolution
will not take place.

Maybe we'll get lucky
and have an Armageddon
but don't hold your breath.

You can take this shit
to the bank.