WINDOW/SHOPPING

Wish you were here
cards from soldiers,
antique maps of Afghanistan in full color,
Gold Rush mining pans,
laissez-faire buffalo print,
ultramarine Morpho Menelaus
from a missing rainforest.

America awaits in labeled and priced shadows.
Flail, South Carolina, 1856.
The Uncivilized Races of Men
in All Countries of the World, 1872.
American Eugenics Party pamphlet, 1964.
2 cent Canal Zone postage stamp, 1979.
That was the time and place
for such things.

Today is the time and place
for CCTV home kits, mobile promises,
the tabula rasa of virtual reality.
"The world of the future lies in your palm."
View infinity from a revolving plate
atop a hotel over garlic bisque soup at $25 a bowl.

But there are still ukuleles,
frayed satin dresses,
Braids For Less
God's Gym,
donuts and falafel,
shoes, always shoes.
Tomorrow we will say,
That was the time and place for such things.

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