Changing Clothes

Girls could not wear pants to school

When I was just a kid

And on our feet were shoes, not sneakers;

That’s just what we did.

 

We got dressed up on holidays

Or specialized events

Like Broadway shows or graduations;

There were no dissents.

 

Grown-ups also went to work

In dresses, suits and ties.

Decorum was the rule of thumb then,

Meant to civilize.

 

We’ve come a long way from those years.

Now there are no set rules

And most would claim they like this freedom;

Dress codes are for fools.

 

Yet there are times I look around

At people at their jobs

And what I see is the result;

So many look like slobs.

 

I wouldn’t want restrictions like

The ones we used to know,

But it bothers me that sloppiness

Is now the status quo.