Then and Now

We were what we were and we are now what we are now

We were coffee shop prophets
When Starbuck was a character
Quoting Ibsen, Shaw, and Yeats
Exact in predicting the downfall
Of the country
Of the society
Of the arts
We knew everything
And voiced it in a
Cacophony of cathartic certainty
Individuality was our motto
Toasted nightly with
The same black coffee
In the same white cups.

We knew everything
Then

We sit now in polite conversation
Stirring a low-fat latte, a cappi, expresso
Recalling in exact detail
         (Maybe more colorfully)
Clinging to a yesterday
That never became a now
Laughing
Reciting rehearsed rhetoric
Not wishing to admit
We had all sold out.