In
the 50s and 60s
it
was
the
size of the car
the
model of the car
the
newness of the car;
it
was
the
size of the house
the
furnishings of the house
(modern/contemporary/just
like
the magazines/none
of
that old-fashioned stuff);
it
was
the
clothes and style
like
Hepburn (Audrey)
like
Kennedy (Jackie)
and
wanting everyone
to
know
In
the 00s and the 10s
it
is
the
voltage of the car,
hybridzed,
it
is
the
greenness of the house,
solarized
and efficiency
energized
it
is
clothes
and style
like
everyone
like
no one
it
is
the
organic-ness of the food
the
localness of the food
the
rawness of the milk
and
wanting everyone
to
know.
Then
it was
conspicuous
consumption
now
it is
conspicuous
virtue
Over
at dVerse
Poets, the Poetics prompt is “taboo” – to write a poem about a subject that
is taboo, politically incorrect, and/or more than likely to offend some
significant part of the population. To see more “taboo” poems, please visit dVerse
Poets.
So what's changed, but everything unimportant? Great parallel and a very wise observation. Big car, big virtue - size has always been everything, culture being nothing but worship of surfeit. - Brendan
ReplyDeletei've just recently talked about this with my boss and we both thought that cars have lost a bit of their importance in the game - they were partly substituted by technical gadgets like smartphones, computers etc.
ReplyDeleteso the variables change but the game stays the same...
we consume our tastes have just changed a bit...information is money these days and being up to date on everyone in our voyeuristic society of virtual friends...
ReplyDeleteno matter what the decade - more is better or so that is what we are told to believe. For me, more is complicated and painful, but I don't know much. Nice spin on this prompt. I like it a lot.
ReplyDeleteEvery era brings a new status to live by. good write on the subject
ReplyDeleteGlynn, you have captured the differences in the decades very well. I wonder what will be "in" in the 2020's. so hard to predict. Who would have been able to predict 20 years ago just what popular takes would be today?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brian, we aren't willing to give things up, so we use energy and resources to figure out how to use tings with less guilt.
ReplyDeleteYes, well, in the end, isn't a lot of it about hypocrisy!? Good take on prompt and really interesting.
ReplyDeleteMaybe conspicuous virtue has never been out of fashion. What constitutes that "virtue" is the only variable.
ReplyDeleteI love this poem. "Conspicuous virtue" guess that means we try not to get caught buying fritos at the vending machine : ) Ok so I did feel a great sense of pride when someone looked in my shopping cart and said, "it all looks so healthy, I feel like a slob." And... of course pride goes before destruction- my husband grabbed the chocolate chip cookies it wasn't me (fingers crossed)!
ReplyDeleteWe do find ways to be certain we are just not enough. Sometimes I want to run away from it all, if I'm honest. I suppose the trick is to drown out the voices and live true to what you believe and know :)
ReplyDeleteI like all these comments - this has been the ride of my life. I remember when I first heard the word "down size". It didn't even make sense to me. Well done.
ReplyDeleteSmaller cars, bigger tags, organic foods, great life? Where is it?
ReplyDeleteWell written and enjoyed reading here. Thanks.
http://seeworldhere.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/our-world-today-they-know/
what insight... loved the comparison... great
ReplyDeleteWell crafted write of all that is deemed important - conspicous virtue - when in reality impressing others is not important at all.
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
Some things never change. It's all about appearances - just what those appearances are acceptable changes. In Biblical times it was priests with their phylacteries and who they spent time with. Excellent poem. Peace, Linda
ReplyDelete