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# Whiz
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/whiz/
- Published: 2026-05-18T22:34:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:08:31.000Z
- Description: “Whiz,” a brief humorous homage to the nostalgia of American mass made food and products of the 80s and 90s, written May 18, poem 138 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo: "Classic," by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Generational, Geriatric Millennial, Humor, Nostalgia, Poems, Pun-y / Tongue-in-Cheek, Reminiscing, 1980s, 1990s, Banana Boat, Cheez Whiz, Coke Classic, Entanglement, Hawaiian Tropic, King's Hawaiian, May, New Coke, Parkay, Reddi Wip, Sly, SPF 15, SPF 4, Swim Suit, The Real Thing, This is Funny, Whipped Cream, Whiz, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

"Whip" it proclaims.  
The container I hold looks like Cheez Whiz   
got in an entanglement with Reddi Wip,   
who brought along for the adventure   
a 1980s bottle of Hawaiian Tropic SPF 4 tanning oil.  
  
The cannister transports me to my childhood  
and I am helping myself to an extra circle   
of sweetened cream on my Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.  
  
I wonder if this product, left alone  
in a mud room or on a kitchen island would be   
mistaken for The Real Thing,   
like Coke, the Classic one, not the New one.  
  
I close my eyes and see a sly young one   
or a vision-blurred elder see this can  
alone on a counter and think,   
"I can take one puff,   
one whiz of the nozzle,   
and make my day better."  
  
And this thought permeates my mouth,   
my nose my lungs with the taste of Banana Boat  
and I am eight and my mom is rubbing my back   
with thick pale yellow SPF 15 lotion   
and I am saying   
"MomMomMom *stahhppp*"   
And she is telling me to:  
"holdstillIneedtodoyourbackandthenyoursister's!"   
  
The chemicals linger   
in my nasal passage  
and coat my tongue   
and seep into my swim suit  
like Parkay   
on Kings Hawaiian buns.  
  
And now I'm back in the mall  
holding this pressurized sunblock  
which boasts a "tilt valve actuator"  
and can be mine for the low, low cost   
of twenty-two dollars   
"before shipping and handling"  
my mind adds.  
  
I treat the gimmicky goo   
like the cultural zeitgeist it's going for:   
a tourist trap.  
So, I snap a photo,   
for my neon hued scrapbook,   
and put it *Right Back Down,*   
like my mother would have commanded.