"The Nineties" by Randall Mann
The Nineties
I threw shade inside a bar, how I survived that decade, like a dilettante. Inside a bar, puffing a blunt like a dilettante, I thought of myself bluffing a punt. The narrative, cyclical. I thought of myself, I tried to avoid. The narrative cynical, waiting on luck. I tried to avoid the cruel testing window, waiting on luck I’m sure I didn’t deserve. The cruel testing window I still cannot grieve… I’m not sure what I deserve. I throw shade, I still cannot grieve how I survived. That decade. Originally published in Revel Issue 4
Audio: Randall Mann reads “The Nineties”
Randall Mann is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently Deal: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2023). A new collection, Memory Puzzle, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon in 2027. He lives in San Francisco.
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This feels like a time capsule filled with both joy and loss.
The speaker's perspective is insightful and nuanced.
A poem that lingers after the final line.
What stands out most is the emotional honesty.
The poem doesn't force its message.
Instead, it lets the details do the work.