Then is Now

I hear the young folks are looking ahead
to things that came before.
 Before they were born things a little worn
So what, they still want more.

They want old cameras (if they can still find film)
and they treasure old forty fives. Old record players
and albums and old tapes
of The Rolling Stones live.

Clothes from the seventies
with fringe and flair, thrifting is what it’s about.
Kids converge on all the Goodwills,
down the isles they map out their routes.

Now, you flashback kids from near and far
I want to talk to the south.
Don’t let our accent die with flip phones
Pick it up, let it roll out your mouths.

Listen to your grandparents born and
raised in Georgia or Tennessee.
Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, or
the Carolinas by the sea.

Listen carefully to the sound
and mimic what  you hear.
Slow down the speed on your turn tables,
then you’ll know how to go back years.

7-25