edited version
At the center of the continent
we yearned for the New York underground,
wearing regulation berets and black,
we slouched in basement rec rooms
of our working-class suburban homes.
Played albums of beat poets,
denounced the atom bomb,
dug Charley (the bird) Parker
and Moon Dog was gone, man, gone
We'd looked wildly into one another's eyes
when our principal, in a shocked voice,
announced on the intercom:
the Russians have launched--
At night we were aware
of Sputnik overhead
we became deep thinkers waking.
We dreamed of mushroom clouds,
took cover when air raid sirens droned.
The age of Ike was waning
the world was going to change forever
by intellect or radiation,
it was up to us.
Yeah man, Ban the Bomb.
The underground went west
beat was burned in love and acid.
There's still tie-dye shirts
for sale in shops that line Haight-Ashbury
but not a trace of ban-the-bomb
can be found in New York City.
original
At the center of the continent
we yearned for the New York underground
dressed in regulation berets and black
we slouched
in blue-collar suburban basement rec rooms
and played hi-fi
albums of Jack Kerouac
reciting his 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 ---
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,
took cover when air raid sirens droned.
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 tye-dye shirts
for sale in shops
that line Haight-Ashbury
but not a trace of beat or ban-the-bomb
In New York City.
Welcome to The Tangled Branch! Join us.
I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt (with edit)
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt
JACK KEROUAC on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW with Steve Allen 1959 - Bing video
And here is Jack and Steve talking about the very album we played and Jack recites a bit. Oh the wonders of the internet.
And here is Jack and Steve talking about the very album we played and Jack recites a bit. Oh the wonders of the internet.
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt
On the one hand, as with your other recent narrative poems I enjoyed the narrative, the character and the period detail and the natural flow.
On the other hand, the fact that Kerouac invariably turns up in narratives about the sixties and revolution and discovery now makes it the obverse of what it was at the time, which is a pity. The palpable cloud hanging over the period is something more interesting IMO and something I ahve been trying to get across to my students recently.
Dave
On the other hand, the fact that Kerouac invariably turns up in narratives about the sixties and revolution and discovery now makes it the obverse of what it was at the time, which is a pity. The palpable cloud hanging over the period is something more interesting IMO and something I ahve been trying to get across to my students recently.
Dave
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt
Dave,
thank you for your interesting perspective. So Kerouac has become an old saw. That is disappointing. Actually the poem is written from my own timeline and that album came out my senior year in high school, '59. Before the year was over I had dropped out and got married. My development as a counter-culture renegade was arrested at that point:D
I got a GED certificate and went to art school in 68--whole new set of problems then.
The strange thing is, I ask my contemporaries if they remember the "ban the bomb" demonstrations during the 50's and no one does--only the Viet Nam war demonstrations. It's like a weird form of amnesia. Everyone does remember the duck and cover exercises during the air raid warnings and the fallout shelter scares and a sense of impending doom.
This poem is the last in the group I'm struggling with that starts with my very vague memories of meeting my dad at the airport when he came back from duty in the South Pacific WWII.
Thank you for your feedback I'd love to sit in on one of your classes on the era.
thank you for your interesting perspective. So Kerouac has become an old saw. That is disappointing. Actually the poem is written from my own timeline and that album came out my senior year in high school, '59. Before the year was over I had dropped out and got married. My development as a counter-culture renegade was arrested at that point:D
I got a GED certificate and went to art school in 68--whole new set of problems then.
The strange thing is, I ask my contemporaries if they remember the "ban the bomb" demonstrations during the 50's and no one does--only the Viet Nam war demonstrations. It's like a weird form of amnesia. Everyone does remember the duck and cover exercises during the air raid warnings and the fallout shelter scares and a sense of impending doom.
This poem is the last in the group I'm struggling with that starts with my very vague memories of meeting my dad at the airport when he came back from duty in the South Pacific WWII.
Thank you for your feedback I'd love to sit in on one of your classes on the era.
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TrevorConway
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Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt
Hi Linda,
Nice vibe. It catches the mood of the time, or at least the modern perception of that time. I wonder if there are any details that are more specific to you rather than specific to the period. I think it would give the poem a bit more of an identity and take it away from a summarising-of-the-period feel. It felt a bit wordy/long-winded for the material that's there, though a version with lots of detail specific to you could potentially be this long, I guess.
I've put in bold below parts that I reckon could be removed.
Thanks for sharing.
Trev
At the center of the continent
we yearned for the New York underground [Nice opening]
dressed in regulation berets and black
we slouched
in blue-collar suburban basement rec rooms
and played hi-fi
albums of Jack Kerouac [bring this line up to combine it with previous line]
reciting his 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 --- [Dig into this more. More tension. How did you feel?]
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.
[Remove stanza break]
We dreamed of mushroom clouds,
took cover when air raid sirens droned.
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 tye-dye shirts
for sale in shops
that line Haight-Ashbury
but not a trace of beat or ban-the-bomb
In New York City.
Nice vibe. It catches the mood of the time, or at least the modern perception of that time. I wonder if there are any details that are more specific to you rather than specific to the period. I think it would give the poem a bit more of an identity and take it away from a summarising-of-the-period feel. It felt a bit wordy/long-winded for the material that's there, though a version with lots of detail specific to you could potentially be this long, I guess.
I've put in bold below parts that I reckon could be removed.
Thanks for sharing.
Trev
At the center of the continent
we yearned for the New York underground [Nice opening]
dressed in regulation berets and black
we slouched
in blue-collar suburban basement rec rooms
and played hi-fi
albums of Jack Kerouac [bring this line up to combine it with previous line]
reciting his 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 --- [Dig into this more. More tension. How did you feel?]
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.
[Remove stanza break]
We dreamed of mushroom clouds,
took cover when air raid sirens droned.
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 tye-dye shirts
for sale in shops
that line Haight-Ashbury
but not a trace of beat or ban-the-bomb
In New York City.
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt (with edit)
Enjoyed the read Linda.
Brought back some early memories of advice we were given in school.
http://brandnewretro.ie/2011/11/11/surv ... ice-1960s/
Brought back some early memories of advice we were given in school.
http://brandnewretro.ie/2011/11/11/surv ... ice-1960s/
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt (with edit)
Colm!
You've returned in time for NaPo, welcome back.
Yes every generation coming up must be traumatized, it seems, by some terrible threat. This current batch will spend their lives processing, some by writing poetry about it, until they're old and gray. They've got a lot to write about.
Thanks for the read and interesting link.
You've returned in time for NaPo, welcome back.
Yes every generation coming up must be traumatized, it seems, by some terrible threat. This current batch will spend their lives processing, some by writing poetry about it, until they're old and gray. They've got a lot to write about.
Thanks for the read and interesting link.
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt (with edit)
Thumbs-up on the edit Linda. The poem does give a flavour of the time, of hope, of change, of mindset, of realisation that times move-on, age kicks in.
enjoyed
Phil
enjoyed
Phil
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt (with edit)
Thank you Phil,
What would I do if I couldn't post my stuff here and get honest feedback. Glad the edit works for you. I am hoping my tales of nearly 80 years on this earth and the fact that, despite my dire misgivings in almost every decade that the planet would crash and burn, we keep bumbling through somehow.
What would I do if I couldn't post my stuff here and get honest feedback. Glad the edit works for you. I am hoping my tales of nearly 80 years on this earth and the fact that, despite my dire misgivings in almost every decade that the planet would crash and burn, we keep bumbling through somehow.
Re: I Never Wore a Poodle Skirt (with edit)
Hey Linda
Good edit. Still captures the flavour of the times in the USA. Have you ever watched When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, more famous for his Father Christmas books and films. Devastating but captures the flavour of quaint Britishness with respect to nuclear devastation. When the Wind Blows 1986 Trailer | Peggy Ashcroft | John Mills - YouTube
Good edit. Still captures the flavour of the times in the USA. Have you ever watched When the Wind Blows by Raymond Briggs, more famous for his Father Christmas books and films. Devastating but captures the flavour of quaint Britishness with respect to nuclear devastation. When the Wind Blows 1986 Trailer | Peggy Ashcroft | John Mills - YouTube