The Prolonged Bromance of Vyvyan and the People’s Poet
written by: Joseph S. Pete
@nwi_jsp
At Scumbag College,
The Young Ones smashed walls, windows,
Started fires,
Pyromaniacally burned with the smoldering oppression
Of youthful boredom
Into the cigarette butt end of the ashen night.
At Scumbag College
Unruly Vyvyan and rude Rick sparred, shouted,
Swung, slapped, shoved,
Bickered till blue in the button-festooned jean jacket.
You can be stagnantly depressed, a forehead-studded punk,
An idealistic vegetarian hippie,
The voice of a generation.
Any youthful affectation
On the long slog toward selfhood
Is grist for others’ mockery.
Earnest radical, mohawked firebrand,
Long-haired woebegone Peace Studies major,
All the sincerity in the world
Can’t spare you from satire,
From the cozy familiar robe
Of a comedy of manners
You’d titter at on the BBC
With a sensibly poured snifter of brandy.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
This poem was inspired by the cult classic BBC series “The Young Ones.”
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