Days I Never Lived

Towson Skyline 1 _{(Credit: xburningmikex on Deviant Art)}

Inspired by “Luv Deluxe” by Cinnamon Chasers

I should have bought my rental property when I was ten years old,
Right after the markets crashed, to guarantee me my passive income. 
How could I have been so stupid to only think of video games,
And asking my crush to our middle school dance?

The world used to have more color and life,
Before focus-tested marketing told us to minimize,
And every storefront became flat grey and bare metal,
If they didn’t disappear altogether.

Those days held the last of the excess of the past,
Before the axe fell when the stock market did.
Big box stores and local takeout places vanished.
Even the mom and pops are owned by private equity now.

Even though they’re all filtered through lower resolution,
The memories feel so much more real than the new age.
Low fidelity digital cameras, amateur framing, and no edits
Feel more real than today’s 4K, processed perfection.

We became unwelcome everywhere we could go. 
Growing up promised shopping malls and skate parks to hang,
Only for our social lives to disappear into the ethernet.
They paved the places I used to love for another storage facility.

Technology not quite yet high on the leading edge of life.
Phones were only semi-smart,
And the world wasn’t quite a spiderweb of all our thoughts.
Not constantly accessible, not constantly connected.

Just free.

Perhaps I can’t see the forest for the trees,
When I did math homework in the backseat,
Watching a world of boxy televisions give way
For a sleek, sinister future which didn’t wait for me to grow up.

I can’t help but scratch at doors long shut behind me, 
Despite never having truly spent time in those rooms.
Wishing I could experience what was missed by child eyes,
Nostalgia for days I never lived.