We were chain smokers

without the cigarettes,

the fucked generation,

top hats for change,

nickels and dimes,

pennies and progressivism.

Life felt like shackles and chains,

the kind the get tighter

each time a muscle tenses.

Sweet resistance.

We were prisoners

of the "system"

too mentally handicapped

and occupied

to solve problems with our own theories.

We were recycled philosophers

and cheap cold coffee quotes.

The kind the stick to the back of your throat

like the mucousy gook on a sick day,

but I guess they were all sick days.

Adolescence, in a way,

felt like a 6 year flu.

Each cry, cough, scream,

the pain would just get worse.