An open note to baby boomers:

you shriek that we kill the car industry
by not buying with abandon
but Detroit
was crumbling long before I was born
and storms seeded in the gases belched by metal
now sweep away our homes

we do not buy homes, you say
well
why would we?
some of us have seen that sector
collapse twice in just our lifetimes
long before we knew what a mortgage was
beyond Monopoly.

I cannot work my way through college,
you see
I have a vision of my future
and it is sitting at my kitchen table
weeping over bills I cannot pay
you have never known student loans,
but it seems I will be paying them still
when I am your age.

you are outnumbered now,
you know that?
your recklessness in having children
that you raised amid divorce
has only led to more of us.
we had to grow up too fast
in this world you used and broke
and now expect us to somehow flourish in
well
while we count change for the buses
and squeeze with friends into apartments
and work ourselves to bone to pay off all our debts
we will remember
we are young
and glory in it
no matter how you shriek
(you have taken so much from us
but we can take back this
in our selfies and our lipstick and our laughter
we are young now
and you
are still crumbling
like the rusted cars left in Detroit.)