- 59 -

Our Time
Tanner Léon 

Yeah,
we came to shake up the world
because the olds have lost their way
and it is 
our time.
Born into freedom
only to later realize terrorism 
was constructed at the hand
of our own government
for the towers still burn
in our hearts 
but there’s a hole, missing
like the plane wreckage. 
Fueled by cartoons
and less-than-cabled television, 
we were raised on
the garbled alien dial-up
frequencies and took the trek
from cords to flip to smart:  phones
and we can’t get off our phones.
If my earbuds are in
I want to be alone.
We watched our food
come in boxes bags and wrappers
knowing none-the-wiser, 
tv and dinner made for an oasis
as we praised the microwave— 
it was all we knew.
We lived through four seasons
and now acknowledge
we screwed the weather up;
just like our parents did to us—
caught in between
fall(ing) and spring.
We were always told
the world used to be safer.
The glory days already spent—
but outside has always
been a second home. 
The ones who played
with walkie-talkies
and made Lite-Brites
depict our dreams.
Walmart and McDonalds
are the two pinpoints
of our foundation:
we are birthed 
in muck.
We still can’t remember
anyone’s birthday 
except our own



- 60 -

Our Time

but Christmas is ingrained.
We grew up without
Moms Dads Siblings
and lost the milk carton kid—
painted in the headlines as
“The 50% Divorce Rate Refugees.”
too many hormones 
in our food
we gut gender roles
and slice open binaries.
Raised on meat
and Republican bias
but still cast our first votes
for Bernie:
hope never died,
it was born into us.
We survived
sexual assault,
learned how to speak
with a broken heart
and Adult Swim showed 
us everything our parents wouldn’t. 
We made friends with screens
and cried when we realized
they could make for better friends. 
Told to go to college
where we smoked
weed & cigarettes—
realized Capitalism ruined
education just like it ruins
everything else:
down the liquor 
down the drain.
Our colloquialisms 
come in the form of memes 
about our mental health
because we don’t really know
how else to deal with things.
Humor might just be what saves us.
which is kind of ironic considering
the strict no horseplay policies
put into place by people
who thought they were happy
working in factories. 
So it’s no wonder
we chant in the streets
for more fun
and less work.
No surprise 
that we drink coffee
at 10 pm
in Steak & Shake
and then go home
for a bowl of cereal.
We’ve always been defiant like that.



- 61 -

Tanner Léon

Some of our music might suck,
but what really sucks more
is that it took rock’s limelight,
and that they don’t like. 
We’re a flock of night owls
running on no sleep caffeine 
doobies before work 
alcohol in water bottles
food fast:
the pace of our lives.
We’ve grown up 
knowing only war—
our hopes for peace
scheduled illegal
by the government,
but we were never good 
at listening anyways.
They tried to kill our creativity
and called it standardized testing
in hopes we’d grow up lost.
So many of us grew up lost.
Until we got older,
grabbed the sauce
and found out
what God really is.
Now we’re dreaming 
in millions.
Our skills aren’t specialized,
we don’t have ten years of experience,
fiscal responsibility
sounds like a section 
of the newspaper
we never wanted to read
in the first place.
We’re dreamers…
believers… 
and no,
we’re not livin’ on a prayer—
we’re prayin’ just to live
and too often to die, 
a damn shame.
We have so much hope
to see an ideal world
so are called idealistic—
I say thanks for the compliment.
Our days, the stuff of dreams:
set an alarm
‘til it's real. 
Here’s reassurance to the radical
revolutionary in the heart
of every millennial:
we’re here to shake up the world
because the olds have lost their way

and it is 
our time.