Camp Out

Gathered around a campfire before a tiny hut,
they try to find a pathway out of their parents’ rut.
Like each new generation, they must grow out of their roots,
stubbornly insisting they won’t fill their parents’ boots.

They flounder in their greetings. Are you he or she or they?
So many other choices than straight or bi or gay.
Their paltry experience seems to them uncouth,
so they are determined to spice up unseasoned youth.

They embark on new adventures, treading warily at first,
grasping opportunities to quench their every thirst.
They pass around the bottle, then share the smoking pipe,
place proffered pills on questing tongues, imaginations ripe

for each new experience, finding every mode
of travel that might lead them all to the mother lode.
Every generation finding their own route
to strike out on their own to see what life’s about. 

Prompts today are roots, flounder, greetings, youth, hut and paltry. Image by Jason Leung on Unsplash.