A Few Decades Ago

A few decades ago, the synthetic suppleness of this Kleenex tissue

Would not have been possible. (I am working, and fidgeting absent-mindedly

When I realize that it could be my silk kimono, sifting between my fingers)

 A few centuries ago…I wonder what nose wiping consisted of. Nose wiping consisted

Of the back of a blistered hand fleeting, planed like a slap over an upper lip, healthy

Baby strands of bacteria fused, colonising, hewn fresh on a hemp sleeve. Not

A hygiene precaution. Not oriental silk. Not an opportunity to smell the begonias.

Then I think, regretfully, that girls’ hair was probably softer a few decades ago,

Before the conquest of the smoothing irons, before this long, dry summer

Crept up, crusted over the frizz and rewired it into split myriad ends.

Colour Protect Technology, though, is now affordably salon-quality. Which is one

Of those little luxuries. I don’t really want a tissue; I don’t even have a cold.

But I do appreciate that velvety smoothness. Or maybe Anne Boleyn did have it all.

(Interesting, the rise and fall.)

Note: last thing I wrote. Read this at Kid, I Wrote Back. A sonnet of sorts, tell me what you think.