Smells like Middle-Aged Spirit by Katie Kemple

Smells like Middle-Aged Spirit

I think of Janeane Garofalo when I fold
my teen’s t-shirts. Well, no, Janeane
Garofalo’s character in Reality Bites.
The one who’s a manager at the GAP.
That place Winona Ryder’s character
is too good to work at. We were supposed
to relate to Winona’s character,
her dedication to art and filmmaking.
(And the start of reality TV?) Don’t be
a sellout, the wisdom of a generation.
X marks your spot in it. Profit, the culprit.
We didn’t know X would mark Twitter
would piss over the playground of our
20s. The Internet, a place where you can’t
fold t-shirts for the GAP, abounds
with sell-outs selling out their own
brands. The future cut Ben Stiller’s
character out of the market. He’s surfing
YouTube Shorts and TikTok for clients.
Ethan Hawke’s character didn’t make it big
in time to ride the wave of CD sales,
his music Napstered, Spotified, played
out in 90s cover bands. And a lot of us
are X out of luck. I’ve had so many jobs.
They’ve come and gone like t-shirts.

*

Katie Kemple’s poems have appeared in various pockets of the internet and at katiekemplepoetry.com.