Scowl

New York at its meanest - circa 1986

Infested with Goetzes, panhandlers and pricks

“God Save the Winos” said the man with the stick

And what did we do, journo-stars of tomorrow?

Grew stubbly chins a la “Miami Vice”

Made nice with recruiters from evil chain newspapers

and claimed to speak Spanish but hablad nada

I remember the chant at commencement

as the whole school yelled “Gary Hart” as its war cry

What a great victory for the Fourth Estate poseurs

who brought down a man who could’ve saved us from Reagan

So we swilled cheap champagne, thought we were important

Split up and pursued glories of our own

Years later I read Wolfe’s “Bonfire of the Vanities”

What a portrait! What a mirror!

Of my classmates of stone