Veneers 

Poem:Veneers 

When I was younger

You were young too

Does age matter to me as much as it does to you?

By the looks of it you seem to care more about what you are wearing

Wanting young men and women to be stopping and staring

With a T-shirt that says “I’m not over the hill”

I’ve got a speed boat, polished veneers and plenty of time to kill”

With no free will but pressure from your peers with their veneers

You had to buy into your style and smile to have the feeling of being worthwhile

Review: Veeners

The first thing I think of when reading the title is of something being covered up. I read on to find out exactly what the poet means by the term ‘veneers’.

Age features at the very beginning of the poem and it is questioned whether the person to whom the poet is speaking with views it with the same level of importance as they do?

The poet going straight into ‘observing mode’ by focusing on what the the other person wishes to do with what they are wearing and that is to attract attention and impress young men and women. This could all go incredibly wrong where I’m imagining a much senior gentleman wearing the latest bulky ‘fashion’ trainers that teenagers acquire after a shopping trip down to ‘Sports Direct’. How embarrassing if that is the case? It sounds to me me that it’s a gentleman who going through a ‘post-midife crisis’ but I’m not one to erm…judge. Like the poet, I observe. Each to their own and all that etc etc.

Then I’m met with a strong visual of a message on a T-Shirt, nothing quite like the culturally sensitive and strong messages from many moons ago. Such as “Just Say No” (anti drugs) “Free Nelson Mandela” (if you don’t know, do look him up dear reader.) “Choose Life” (more anti drugs, political and social protests) not forgetting “Save the planet” and save the whale” environmental campaigns. Back in the day, printed t-shirts with public messages were all the rage. An admirable community centred lot with a social conscience. Hurrah to that! The future looked like it was going to be alright if all adhered to those messages. The world wasn’t going to explode as all were “making love and not war” What could be better eh? Coming back to the here and now in 2026. (I won’t refer to the content of current news dear reader. We all know what’s going on and what ‘they’ want to be telling us, how they want to be telling us and at what times of the day they choose to do it. Let me focus on the message on this T-shirt that the poet has read and what it is saying. Is it declaring a powerful political statement to unite the masses with a strong counterculture or a health campaign? It’s not just a word or two I see. I’m curious and a bit optimistic as I look closely.

Oh dear, alas no. I was naive. No spirit of unity of any kind here but a boastful flashy statement. I pause to think and then I think some more. I’m glad that I have paused as I am reading the message to be ironic and an attack on those who have turned their back on society, are self-centred and materialistic. I can cope with reading the poem in this way and not taking it to be a genuine statement of identity from the individual but a reflection on an excessively self-centred, narcissistic, consumerist society. Yuck isn’t it dear reader? But true would you or would not say?

“I’m not over the hill” is the first line of the statement saying that they are not old.

Well, I think that they are over twenty-one or a very subversive and well-read teenager. That’s not impossible at all but I’m going to stick to my first thoughts.

I have no idea about the exact garments worn apart from the T-shirt to determine the age of the person. I read on. It says “I’ve got a speed boat” I laugh out loud as no one who has a speed boat or any kind of boat would declare it on a T-shirt would they? Polished veneers, hmm? I then think of teeth. A lot of people look after their teeth and some do not.

I think that coffee culture is to blame here. Coffee is a big thing along the with the escalating prices, with nearly five pounds for a café latte for example. (another story for another time dear reader) One could argue that whoever can afford that can afford coffee at those prices can afford to sort out their coffee-stained pearly whites.

However, I think that the poet may have got the wrong idea about the individual.

If they’ve got lots of time on their hands. They could be retired but using their time productively and do a lot in the community. That’s how I would like to imagine this individual to be. If they drink lots of coffee and have invested to care for their teeth, who cares? It’s their business, their life and they’re living it with a bright twinkly smile. Hoorah to them!

But what about the poet? Why is it that the poet is not referring to their own age with their behaviours? They did indeed ask the question, “Does age matter to me as much as it does to you?”

Well, you tell me poet!

My guessing is that it does matter to you as you are not focussing on it for yourself as a cause of concern but deflecting the readers’ attention to be looking at your ‘friend’ with the T-shirt messages.

Loving the rhyming of “not over the hill” with “plenty of time to kill” “staring with wearing” and “peers wth veneers”

The poem  has certainly caught my interest as a great piece of satire and is a conversation starter.

Don’t worry poet. Ageing, and maturing happens to the best and the worst of us.  In fact to ALL OF US Life is for living.

To you I offer three cheers with your ‘Veeners!’