Welcome to The Tangled Branch!  Join us.

Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

General Poetry - post, comment, review, critique
Post Reply
indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

Post by indar » Fri Sep 13, 2019 10:55 am

For your listening pleasure while you read:

[font]https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mo ... &FORM=VIRE[/font]



In the center of the continent
we yearned
for the New York underground
dressed in regulation berets and black,
slouched
in blue-collar suburban
basement rec rooms
played hi-fi albums of Jack Kerouac
reciting poetry. Steve Allen
pianoed jazz background,
we dug Charley (the bird) Parker
and Moon Dog was gone, man,
gone.

And so was ban the bomb.
We'd looked wildly into
one another's eyes
when our principal on the intercom
in a shocked voice announced the Russians
had launched into space...

We were beat and we were Beatniks.
Yeah man, ban the bomb.
At night we were aware
of Sputnik overhead
we became deep thinkers waking.

We dreamed of mushroom clouds
and took cover: sirens drone--
The age of Ike was waning
and the world was going to change forever
by intellect or radiation
it was up to us.

The mummers went on the road.
Kerouac went back home
the rest was burned in acid.
There's still tie-dye shirts
for sale in shops
that line Haight-Ashbury
but not a trace of beat or ban-the-bomb
In New York City.
 

Matty11
Posts: 1585
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:58 pm

Re: Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

Post by Matty11 » Fri Sep 13, 2019 11:11 pm

Enjoyed Linda. A good translation of period. I don't feel you need the final summation/reflection on legacy since the reader will fill that space. Besides it detracts from the immediacy the poem achieves in conveying the period.

cheers

Phil

poet-e
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 3:10 pm

Re: Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

Post by poet-e » Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:39 am

Love it.

1st stanza has fast Beat-like reading rhythm that'd be good for spoken word.  Wish rest of the poem cont'd this.

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

Post by indar » Thu Sep 19, 2019 4:59 pm

Thanks Poet-e, I did try to beat the whole poem into that cadence---apparently failed. :)

poet-e
Posts: 247
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 3:10 pm

Re: Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

Post by poet-e » Fri Sep 20, 2019 2:07 pm

Not failure, but a work in progress!  Try to avoid proper grammar/sentence structure?

indar
Posts: 2908
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Stories from the Silence#6: I Never Wore A Poodle Skirt

Post by indar » Sat Sep 21, 2019 6:33 pm

strange but actually good advice--me too rule bound

Post Reply