You rote me off - 6 Jan 2009

You rote me off
as the bling-bling generation
too much into shiny objects
to concern ourselves

You rote me off
a generation lost, again
to the drug of choice
be it MXIT, tik or religion

You rote me off
united in your ivory towers
coalitions of armchair critics
hidden behind pledges

You rote me off
the OBE generation
the system’s guinea pigs
thinking for themselves

(You rote me off
you who memorized facts
to churn out for your certificate
for the dog-eat-dog market)

You rote me off
(speak when you’re spoken to)

Might I too do that
to you

A quick one (Friday, January 02 2009, after a cursory glance at certain Matric headlines in the Cape Times that carried the results (Wednesday, December 31 2008). My beady eye fell in particular on the page 3 article headlined ‘Support groups urge people not to criticise those who didn’t pass and warn of increase in substance abuse’.