Part VI Of Poetry Fun

COMPARING ERAS
by Luis C. Medina


As the calendar turns
The Doors’ vinyl record turns into their greatest hits
on compact disc.
Tapping typewriter keys
replaced by click-click computing
followed by a voice announcing proclaiming
‘You’ve got mail.’
Black and white scrap-booked memories
Are supplanted by digital images.
Gone are those groovy bell-bottoms,
swapped with dragging jeans
headed to the hip-hop spot,
not the disco.
Love makers against war
now residing in corporate offices
spawned today’s progressive,
leisure loving kids surfing the net.
Time may fly,
but the past keeps us grounded.


This is a revision of the museum poem. I liked writing the museum poem because I was able to compare replicas of what dorm rooms at SIU have looked like throughout time. When preparing myself to write this poem I took pictures of each living setting and I took notes on what was in each room. I took the best and most interesting objects and made a poem out of it. It was a contrast of “new school” and “old school” so to speak.

As for changes I made minimal changes. I added some details such as the love makers against war now residing in corporate offices and progressive, leisure loving kids surfing the net, in an attempt to give more descriptive characterization of the people I wanted to be describing. In addition, I dropped the mini-skirt line and added where the kids were going. Knowing that many parents are against a lot of the hip-hop culture, I figured that would be a nice place to send the kids that would make the parents cringe a little. I also added a few descriptive words too in an attempt to liven up the poem a bit.