Thursday, August 9, 2007

Poetry Thursday -- Flip Flops

Lightening things up a bit after last week . . .

Flip Flops

When I was young if you went out you needed
To wear proper shoes that covered your toes
To protect your precious and vulnerable appendages
From horrendous injury marked by pain, blood, and gore.

Flip flops were not proper shoes. Okay maybe for a trip
To the beach or pool but certainly not appropriate
For going to the store, or church, or riding your bike
Because of predatory escalators, pews, and spokes.

But now it appears that flip flops have come into
Their own, evolved beyond their use at pools and
Showers into standard footwear to go out anywhere
To the store, to the office or even (gasp!) on a hike.

Of course this no doubt signals (according to my mother)
The beginning of an epidemic of bloody toe injuries and
Other catastrophic amputations as well as the end of
All modern civilization as we know and love it.

5 comments:

paisley said...

as the improper become the norms,, and the do not's become the do's... i cannot help but wonder if we will live to see man in loincloths once again....

Anonymous said...

What I always needed was proper footwear. I could never go with the fashion.

Tumblewords: said...

Too true! However, I find myself wearing them everywhere and so far, knock on wood, my appendages aren't bloodied! This is a nifty post!

Constance Brewer said...

Neat poem! I love the sly references to Mom's dire warnings.

Crafty Green Poet said...

this made me laugh, especially the warnings about the end of civilisation. I really need footwear that stays on my feet, so I'm not a big flip flop fan.