The Y and where4 of Generation Now

I had just watched David Blandy's "The Barefoot Pilgrim" at the Baltic contemporary art gallery and was struck by the voice of the talking soul and hip hop / rap music in the film. About 5 minutes later I wrote the, as yet untitled, "Generation Now". The language evolved as I listened to it - "We need" became "we is needin'" , "Because" became "Bcoz". I realised that I was also writing about a book I had just read called "The time paradox". The language was reflecting compacting time and the confusion of the self and the group. There is an overwhelming present focus in the poem which prevents the planing or learning required to be "successful" in western society. These are very much the concepts that I am curently struggling with. This compaction of time into the present and the group into the self is very different from the spiritual , or drug induced, high. It is not the same as being in the moment ( explored in "Fly-" and "sway..." ). It is a squashing of time and selves rather than an expanding of time and self.

So the plural "we are" becomes "we is" as Group compacts into Self. "need" becomes "is needin' " as a statement that can exist through time becomes compacted into the moment. Cliche'd rhymes like "revolution" and "evolution" are used as if they are original since there are no clichés without a past. The use of long words for rhymes counterpoints the compression trying to provide relief by making each moment last longer.

I didn't plan it that way - it just happened. I only realised what I was doing when I looked back at it, worrying that I was just writting a pastiche rather than a genuine attempt to get into the head of "Generation Now". I am trying to analyse from outside and empathise from the inside at the same time.

Hope you think my "art bullshit" is getting a bit better.
Enjoy the poem :)

Steve