“The Drift” [Reflections On Book - 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design Stephen Heller and Veronique Vienne - #88]

The Muslim woman ran them through
The checkout-counter – Walmart too –
Without a blink – “Is that all, sir?”
Now condoms sell without a stir.

Back at the first, the pharmacy
Sold condoms surreptitiously –
Brown paper bags slipped through the till;
A drift took place, and does so still.

For graphic images of sex,
Despite redeeming social text,
Are problematic where folks blend,
And social-cultures comprehend –

Quite different ways and attitudes
(Abuse admixed with gratitude),
As people view one’s privacy
As “Need to know”, alarmingly.

In thirty-three Esquire emerged;
Then fifty-five mores submerged
With Playboy and its clones – each month
A centerfold deployed what once –

Was not available to teens,
Young adults – others too, it seems;
Then Eros, nineteen sixty-two,
Sent first to jail for something new –

It seems the graphic quality
Was up to snuff, by no means sleaze;
And marriage, love, tied in with sex –
But it got quashed – new boundary set.

But that’s now viewed as pretty tame,
And efforts published were quite lame;
On Internet the porn-sites pay
The bulk of digi-net based freight.

Each generation starts off there –
Where mom and dad were not prepared
To go beyond some taboo-line;
Kids do – then their kids do in time.

Thanks Lord for this.

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