A POEM FOR GEN. X

 

Here's a rhyming poem for Gen X kids about growing up:

In the '80s we roamed, under neon lights so bright,

Gen X kids, we knew how to make the day just right.

With Walkmans strapped to our jeans, and mixtapes](https://x.com/i/grok?text=ixtapes)) in our hands,

We danced through life to the beat, across suburban lands.

We had no cell phones, no texts, just quarters for the call,

At the payphone on the corner, we'd tell our friends it all.

We'd ride our bikes 'til sunset, no helmets on our heads,

The wind in our hair, we'd shout, "This is how freedom spreads!"

Saturday mornings, cartoons ruled the TV screen,

Transformers, He-Man, G.I. Joe, we'd seen them all, we'd been.

Afternoons were for arcades, quarters tight in our fists,

Beating high scores at Pac-Man, we wouldn't settle for the least.

We knew the joy of mixtapes, and the art of VCR,

Recording music off the radio, we were stars, by far.

We learned from "The Breakfast Club," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off,"

That life was more than just school, it was about to take off.

We played outside 'til dark, street lights our curfew set,

Kickball, tag, or hide and seek, we never had to fret.

Our childhood was analog, our memories pure and true,

Gen X, we grew up wild, our spirits free and new.

So here's to us, the latchkey kids, with mullets and big hair,

We grew up in the greatest time, with heart and soul to spare.

We might be older now, but we've got stories to tell,

Of growing up in the '80s, when life was just swell.

The canal

Let me tell you about the setting in Yakima Valley. There are canals, big canals and little canals. The big canals, two of which run through the lower valley, are for watering the crops. The little canals run through the city. I enjoy watching you water your gardens, etc. The big canals are upwards of fifteen to twenty feet across and eight to twelve feet deep, with swiftly moving water at five miles an hour. If you are thrown into a canal, there is little hope of getting out alive.

So it's a wise choice not to put yourself in that situation. One of the things we did do. Where's in the fall? The cow will dry up.

So we'd walk along the canal for miles, just searching what we could find. Weirdford, fine stereos.

V c r's tape decks. The people we'll throw in the canal. It'd be like a treasure hunt. In some air, the cow, the water sat in there long enough and that when an early freeze happened in the fall, it froze over for the lengths of half a football field and we go and ice skate with their shoes and try to bust it up. Generally have fun as kids. Yes, this went wrong. Sometimes there's many a story of it going wrong. It may not have a lot of water. But it's freezing water that can be upwards of six feet deep, spanning a football field. Did I almost lose my life? Yes, was I thankful be alive? Yes was I cold yes. Did my friend laugh at me? Yes.

Did my friend save me? Yes, and then start laughing me? Yes, he did. Did I get him back later? Yes,  well, that's all for this post. I will do another pose why expand on the danger. A walk in the canal There's more dangerous, trust me. What else you do being  a Gen X  kid.