Faded Flashback

Dance damaged toes and broken high heels

Carrying her down the street

To that after hours party

Where the communal aerosol can of Aqua Net

Fizzles and sizzles to keep that

Gravity defying hair big and stiff

While they all get spiffed

As if they weren’t already

After drinking to the tunes of

Those old familiar mantras

In that 1980’s brain that was

Searching for nothing more than a good time

Because there was nothing more to search for

With eyes closed and eyeliner shared

With the boys in the band

Whose names she doesn’t quite recall

But whose lollipop shirts and silk suits and leather jackets

She’ll never forget

When she wakes from her dreams

With a haircut

And high aspirations of

Spray starch for proper white attire

Cloaking her history

From her politician husband.

The garb she loved

Now makes her wince and blush

As her son borrows them

From someone else’s dad

For an oldies party at the bar

That she used to dance at

With all of her friends

Til her feet hurt or her shoes broke

Whichever came first…