Here's the deal (poem)

Here's the deal:

I'd rather be dying at 72
than striving at 22.
If there's a greater condemnation
of American culture, I don't
know what it is.

Fortunately the culture has black
holes from which musical history
cannot escape. I live in one
called West Coast Jazz and
feel like I'm 22 again. My 22
was more promising than
your 22. Sorry about that.
It's a crap shoot.

Maybe when you're 72
you can find a black hole
in which the insanity of
the present tense can
be ignored. Maybe you can
tell some kid who's 22
that it's all a crap shoot
and wish him well in
finding a black hole for
his own dying days.

Stranger things have happened.

--Charles Deemer