Thursday, July 10, 2014

Time Travel

By Jennifer Hunt, from the archives

Scientists have yet to explain
Why time travels slower in closets

When I was small
I would open Grandmother’s medicine closet
Discovering items not stocked
On drug store shelves for sixty years

Grayed talc, odorless perfume
A squeeze bottle of solution
Designed to paint hosiery
On bare legs
With illustrations for painting seams
Up the back

I never asked why, how, or if
She ever got the lines straight

Whole generations of girls have reached puberty
Without learning how to make their naked legs
Appear hosed
Can we survive this loss?
Will we live to regret it?