Home » Poems » Gershon Wolf » Going, Going, Gone Extinct

Going, Going, Gone Extinct

Say bye-bye to these:
    "Hold, please." (Hold what?)
    Typewriter Repairman Ads
    "Dial this number..." (What's 'dial?')  
    Down-time... Offline
    Compliments (Complaint Departments have swallowed them up).
    "Mail me your resume."
    Shame, and its cousin, Guilt
    Pay Phones and Phone Booths (Sorry, Superman)
    Cash (esp. pennies)
    "How do you do?"  (How do I what?!)
    "Chick," "Piece," "Stacked," "Hot Number"
    The Debt Ceiling
    Brown Suits 
    Brown Fedoras
    White Bread
    White Big-City Mayors (in the USA)
    Math Facts
    Grammar & Grammar Schools
    Heroes
    Good Samaritans
    Public Drinking Fountains (except for dogs and cats)
    All but Mega-Gigantic Hospitals
    Modesty
    Cash Bail 
    Drug Busts
    'Land Lines'
    Gasoline-fueled automobiles
    Private Health Insurance  
    Private Doctors
    Free Museums
    Disturbing the Peace 
    Roth IRA's (at least, Roth IRA's whose distributions are tax-free)
    Peacetime Economies
    Gun Laws (The Wild West roars back) 
    Non-Mixed Use Zoning Laws
    Fair Elections  (Did we ever really have them?)
    Ideals, Idealists, Idealism
    The 'Renaissance Man'
    Daily Newspapers, Print AND Digital
    The 'Weather Channel'
    META
    Music Majors, Art Majors, Anthropology & Sociology Majors
    Cooperation
    Cashiers 
    Receptionists 
    Cleaning Services
    'Straight People'
    Teachers
    'The Four Freedoms'
    Courts (You'll get a ticket and either pay or go to jail...)
    Courtroom Lawyers  
    'Law and Order' Politicians
    Non-TV Ministers
    Dentures
    Non-union University Personnel
    Non-gated upper middle class and upper class housing
    Neighborhood Watch Groups
    Public Schools 
    Childhood
    Non-government Day Care
    Nursery School and Kindergarten
    Free Public Libraries (You'll pay for those Drag Shows, lol!)
    Free-TV
    Non-Tip Services
    'The Great American Novel'
    The Home of the Brave -- Oops! (I mean, of the 'Guardians!')
    'Lesbos' and 'Homos' (Can you believe we used those terms?!)  
    Marital Sex (What for?) 
    Foreplay (Now it's just "Fore! Here I cum!") 
       ~ Roger Dodger, Over & Out!

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Shirley Hawkins

Date: 6/3/2023 12:24:00 AM

I wrote a poem called all nonsense, about four years ago, Gershon, How do you do? was mentioned in it, I have put it back on PS as your interesting list rang a bell with me. Time gentlemen please! I hope you can understand my nonsense. P.S. I hope you are sleeping better, Gershon, I take sleeping pills when i get too desperate, I also try to hypnotise myself by pretending i am swinging back and forth on a swing, this may help you.

Panagiota Romios

Date: 6/1/2023 2:14:00 PM

I miss some of these.I am as outdated as they are. We live in a Brave New World where the human touch is outdated.that is the tragic part.. people replaced by AI. One thing I see missing is people wearing real leather shoes. Men always in jeams. Women too. On women…and snail mail. great hair.. ***Belle is the exception that comes to mind.*** I miss real phone calls… When will money disappear totally? I expect our totalitarian to take away most of what we enjoy and use. Creative poem! Panagiota

Gershon Wolf
Date: 6/1/2023 7:04:00 PM

DEC was in 2nd position, behind IBM, (pretty far behind, but growing quickly) in mainframe computer and operating systems sales in the early 1980's. The entire universe then changed with the introduction of the Apple PC. Bye-bye monolithic mainframes (eventually, except at HUGE international concerns). Hello personal computing, desktops, laptops, devices, AI, chips implanted in our heads at birth. Oops, I'm getting ahead of the game.

Panagiota Romios
Date: 6/1/2023 4:49:00 PM

AI has listed poems already published and the creeps who use Chat GPT to create poems do not know this Elon Musk had been warning people how dangerous this is. Now by the way, we have people less offices. People decided to keep being leeches and live off the Fed.they don’t get how this harms all of us. Add 126 countries sending people here and WE fund them. We will be Venezuela soon.there is no money in DC. Pangie No don’t recall DEC, Am Computer illiterate

Gershon Wolf
Date: 6/1/2023 4:09:00 PM

So true, P! 'AI' is here; 'we' lowly worms are 'there.' ... I challenge this, however. My experiences with AI show it to be a challenged performer, slow learned, and BIG disappointment relative to the glowing predictions for its glorious future. ... By way of perspective: Remember when DEC PDP's 11 Series was going to bring us the 'paperless office' in the early 1980's?! (DEC = Digital Equipment Corp) :) gw

S.Zaynab Kamoonpuri

Date: 6/1/2023 4:30:00 AM

An interesting poem, i like how fedoras sound and look. Kudos for this innovative style poem! >>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<^^^^^^^^>>>>>>>><<<<<< Plz also read my newest poem too

Yann Rolland

Date: 5/31/2023 11:14:00 PM

times are changing so fast, excellent

Gershon Wolf
Date: 5/31/2023 11:24:00 PM

Yes, indeed, yann. Change is certainly in the air: Why, I hear that FDR is no longer President, and that Churchill is on the outs over in England. What's Stalin up to these days, anyway?! lol. Thanks, gw