nostalgia is the real bitch

hits reset back to 91

who could have foreseen the smart phone
in rape cases

i worry for teens these days
nostalgia for a decade unremembered
but there was something simple...quaint
about a vhs trailer and an answering machine
having your own phone line and a beeper was tops
a cigarette at the diner with a coffee and a pizza bagel if you had the cash
no one could contact you if you didn't want them to
and cnn was a reputable news organization(?)

before kids were shooting each other at schools
and the subsequent issue of id tags and metal detectors in mine

we cut class at an abandoned house
and smoked rings around the yellow wall paper
we walked over to video thrills
and stole all the vhs horror flicks
we drove in a honda accord with a sunroof and a joint
and had bonfires outside at the farm house
and it was 99 for columbine and we all waved goodbye
to what we knew

and who could have seen the future
as it unfolds from the front and behind:
a roll of red velvet trimmed with cerulean silk & a polyester paisley print chartreuse bottom)