The weeping guitar wailed a creed announcing
On the rocking air that the times are changing
With yellow flowers on cascading flowing hair
Amplifiers cranked up grooving tie-dyed flowers
On the watch tower jimmy’s driving beat
Vibrating rattling the reefer’s burning smoke
Drifting clouds of purple haze promised answers
My brothers why not give peace a chance
Lets all make love stopping the war now
As Joplin watched dial in for dollars
The poetic voice of Dylan shrilling the change
Baby how to feel like a rolling stone
The dark shadows of war tearing asunder
As images flashed by of burning babies
What if they had a war and no one showed up?
From the crowd I saw Jimmy’s guitar smoking
Heard Janice before; she became a rock star
Such a time as we march on the establishment
Hand in hand against the pig filled streets
Armed with chants of peace, wearing a flower
Our uniforms where torn bell bottom jeans
Bright colored rainbow tie-dyed tee shirts
Did any of us make a difference during the day?
We almost had it right but the drugs
Ended the pure time of peaceful love
The music lives on from the days gone
The hope for our earth is in new hands
Now I chant a prayer for peace in our time
This I sent to the cosmos each new day
Join me my brothers’ sisters of the land
come together in beauty and harmony
Be love be beauty give peace a chance
Turn on to the collective voice of love ~
A contest entry
- days of vinyl & flowers in your hair by Nicolette.
2200 points, ended October 12, 2008, 16 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 9 of 9
-
"As Joplin watched dial in for dollars
The poetic voice of Dylan shrilling the change"
I was just a teeny bit too young for those great artists and the times you write about here, but I've always felt that I belong there, and of course, till this day those old-times are still great. There is a lovely singing or lyrical quality about this poem that I really enjoyed - especially the last few lines. You've said and captured it all there. I also liked how the title refers to one of the best-loved song of days gone by.
So much to enjoy and ponder on in this poem. A lovely reflective quality about it and packed with detail. Thank you for this entry.
~ Nicolette
-
this piece made me remember, at 18, being hired by the musician's union to play guitar at a local wedding.
i didn't know any of the songs the others did, but did my best to follow the sheet music they gave me.
in a couple of songs, the other guys let me strut my stuff, and i used a wah-wah pedal.
afterwards, many people at the reception came up and said how much they liked how i made my guitar talk. lol
i learned then, how music bridges the gap between ages and cultures, and it was a lesson i never forgot.
you've covered so many of the greats in this piece---and showed what effect they, and others had on your life.
thanks so much for entering this
-
You write as wonderfully as I suspect that you photograph. There is no doubt that you evoke myriad of thoughts and emotions from a one of a kind period. I was part of the free love movement and the Vietnam War. When I returned to the states after 14 months, everything seemed so different. It was a cultural shock. Well done, my friend!
-
chanting a prayer with music to bring everything finally to beauty and harmony ending in love and peace made an interesting reading..
-
You brought back some great memories with your words. The music was, to me anyway, but connected us all together. Those people were speaking for us through their songs - protesting wars, protesting injustice. It was awesome being a part of it. I often sit and wonder just what happened, how did we get so far off track?
-
This made me think of that last scene from the movie Billy Jack where everyone is lined up along the roas singing about giving peace a chance as Billy Jack is hauled away to jail. You brought up some vivid images.
-
Flaming Guitar...
As I read this I was amazed at the visuals that flashed before my eyes. Things I had seen and forgot. The vivid images you have resurrected in this verse live and breathe that time perfectly.
This memory in particular I came away with...when Jimmy squirted the lighter fluid on his electric guitar...and it screamed out those notes as if alive. I remember my parents and grandparents saying of that later in years..."those stupid dope heads...they are the reason for the decline of society, smoking that dope and setting things on fire!" I remember that so clearly, and in my mind I tried unsuccessfully to reason how that form of self expression, that hurt no one, no one at all...could be worse than setting a flame thrower to a village filled with sleeping men, women and children. It was as if that was justified for it fell under a certain category that had been flagged as OK by the government and the church. For it was done in the name of god and for the preservation of American values. Hmmmmm...I need to shut up here, this will be the longest comment in AP history. Suffice it to say, this is the best poem I have ever read, I love all your poetry...but this struck a nerve and made me think, feel, remember and intellectualize the complete picture. That is rare and wonderful. Best of luck in the competition.
~Azlyn~
-
"All along the watch tower", "Purple Haze".....so many great songs, great bands, great times. Though I was a 'yuppie', not a hippie, I still enoyed all the music, the exuberant life that so many embraced; also cried tears of sorrow when friends were lost in Viet Nam - and tears for the wasted youth who went the way of drugs/alcohol.......
those were the times.....
Great write!!
best wishes in the contest.
-
This is a great write from you I will put this one in my list!
Drifting clouds of purple haze promised answers
My brothers why not give peace a chance
Lets all make love stopping the war now
As Joplin watched dial in for dollars
The poetic voice of Dylan shrilling the change
Baby how to feel like a rolling stone
The dark shadows of war tearing asunder
Adding your comment:
1 - 9 of 9
