The Changing Pace of Culture (The Fast & Furious New Fade)

I doubt you'd get
a better response
fifty years from
now than you would
if you stopped
reading this poem
to ask the first
person you see
what's popular.

Yeah, we certainly
know a lot of things
that are well-known
and well-hyped, but
we've reached a point
where it's more
difficult than ever
to find a consensus
over who actually
enjoys them. Part
of it's the very
demographics that
have become so popular
to track, but it's been
a building trend for
years now, not just
because we've gotten
expanded choices, but
we perversely refuse
to share.

Also, part of the reason
is that all the cool kids
are the ones we've been
trying so hard to ignore,
who came from marginalized
segments and who now
dominate all the hippest
quarters, the new
marginalized segments.

Globalization is real
and it's a bitch, because
like Rome, like the
British Empire, we've
learned that those
who create change
are eventually left
behind by it. Hey,
just ask Bob Dylan,
the only man smart
enough to roll
ahead of the stone,
who always has to
answer the charges of
"selling out." Go
electric, lose the spark,
keep the cool.

Whatever.