1974, the year of floral prints
And plummeting nylon bikinis
Like the bodies of birds
From the institutional open windows
Of a college dorm.
And then, a sight that made
All faces turn up in hushed wonder
Your mother\'s large white briefs
Like a mainsail, a flag of surrender
Slowly dancing down current
Cinematic, lithe.
It was the opposite of being lifted
Into the sky, the way I imagined
My grandfather ascending
After the long pain of illness
This large pair of underpants
Falling forever on the startled face
Of an undergraduate boy.
The scene, absurd and surreal
As if nature itself had played a prank
On the unsuspecting crowd
A moment frozen in time
As the world held its breath
Like those holding a hoop to save
A child burning.
It was a moment of pure disbelief
A break from the mundane
A dance of the absurd and the real
A sight that etched itself
Into the memories of all who witnessed
The fall of the oversized undergarments
In the year of floral prints
And plummeting nylon bikinis. (\"Pure Disbelief\") by Courtney Weaver Jr.