Slippage, a new noun
learned from Curly girl videos
the way a conditioner leaves hair
good slippage is the goal
smooth and easy to pass a comb
or one’s fingers through

It’s my goal for hair
but not my watch
instead, I get slippage in my lifeline
and things that should take thirty minutes
or less
are over two hours later
nothing to slow it down, time
nothing to make it wait, time
nothing to keep it from being smooth and
easily passed through.

When did the turn of the century get so long ago?
Wasn’t it just a month ago
when we worried about a worldwide shutdown
of all things cyber?
We were innocent then
It would have saved us from the worldwide shutdown
of all things compassionate.
A worldwide shutdown
of all things common sense
A worldwide shutdown
of all things neighborly

Newspapers, they were the thing
that slowed time slippage.
If you didn’t find out for a couple of days,
it didn’t seem as dire.

Instant news is the conditioner of time
and has remarkable slippage.
We can forget yesterday
in the same time span we can forget
the last year
or
the last hour.