the olden days

what was it like? well,
in so many ways
it was barbaric, but
there are a few things I miss.

what passes for food now
doesn’t taste as good
when you’re never allowed to get
really hungry. and even though
it was outrageous, savage, tragic
the way we nourished ourselves
on death and pain, there’s
something to be said
for cooking. the process
of having to make the meal
meant that it was never exactly
the same. sometimes
you’d run out of something,
and have to substitute – many
a new favorite recipe was born
of necessity – or you’d add
slightly more salt and it would taste
different. yes, I know,
now we can just dial it up,
make that lifeless carbon
taste like anything we want,
we can even override
the nutrition warnings –
as if the medical nanobots
won’t just correct it the next
time we sleep – but it’s not
the same.

even bathing and showering –
tedious and wasteful as they were –
had something to be said
for them. you can’t really appreciate
being clean when you’re never
that dirty. don’t get me wrong,
sonic showers are great –
it’s lovely to be clean
in less than 60 seconds –
but my hair hasn’t
been wet in over a hundred years.

and it’s truly amazing
how much art
came out of such a backwards
time.