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Open Poetry #26
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Bad Trips And Relativity
| Open Poetry #26 |
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Bad Trips And Relativity |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows 
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We used to wear flowers in our hair and listen to Dylan and the Doors, and the Stones, and smoke a lot; the world, it seemed, could be done over in paisley and peace, it was the peace that comes from being numb, but we were young we were young. War back then was just another reason to get high and mighty, to walk around with mushroom soup for brains, sticking flowers in the guns, running naked through Chicago, sticking truth in their ears, telling ourselves we really did levitate the Pentagon. Until the trench coat man with promises and money, lots of money, said all I had to do was all I had to do for all the money I could make, it didn't take a genius to figure out a plan; what did it matter where the killings were as long as all the killings were for God and country's sake; Hell it was only time and money after all, it was only time and money after all. It all helped me to believe we'd beat him, by dealing death we'd cheat him, scam the reaper live forever, not just in our deeds but forever young, like an awakened sleeper, to rage somehow some day against the Johnsons-McNamaras-Nixons-Daleys and the rest of all the check book patriots, well we were just the best we'd ever seen, the best we'd ever seen. The last time I was in the Haight street whores wore granny dresses so salesmen from Des Moines, and Akron, could go home to tell their buddies in the club how they had a hippie, in the Haight; how times have changed, how times have changed. Remember TIME and LIFE? Before anthrax, god's own freaks, missing nukes, earth killing asteroid streaks? Money that evaporates, religions always based on love teaching us our private hates? When spin was what our tires did not politicians and CNN? They used to warn us to the bone about the evil of the life and times in which we always seemed to feel at home; now we are them, now we are them. White papers and documentaries were strident warnings everywhere, about hippie acid in the reservoirs how we had to watch the water to protect the body politic, about the powders that we buried in our genes, how drugs and sex and rock'n roll would rot our brains, when we should be getting high on life; that's what we'd read in any paper whenever we were straight enough to read about their hate. It wasn't often we were straight. They must have been right about those drugs building up inside us all distorting our reality, so we ignore what's there to see; it must be why wide-eyed panic hides naively behind a breathing mask, why terrorists who were released on presidential pardons flew back becoming ashes in the rain that dried to powder on the windows looking out on deadly gardens, why I don't drink the water anymore, why sunsets get redder every day. The cities now, they say, may have to be abandoned; the cities may have to be abandoned. ©2003 by icebox |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
What a trip this is. And I do mean a journey through time and culture and (perhaps) one man's life. A fabulous overview of passages, written with wit, insight, and an edge of sarcasm that didn't go unappreciated. I liked this VERY much--it had the voice of protest which it seemingly mocks and rings with the truth of an eyewitness account. An edgy look backward without the glamour of romanticism. To sum it up, this is the best thing I've read in awhile. (In my humble opinion of course.) You never disappoint. (I just tend to leave your threads fairly annoyed with myself--grin--but that's a good thing.) |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows |
serenity blaze ~ Thank you for reading my poem. Your comments the other night made me more aware of the placement of line breaks. I have re-written this piece many times and each time I put it away thinking it is finished. When sometime later, I come across it and read it, I will often remember other flashes of remembrance and then I re-write it. Who knows, maybe now that will stop. Thank you for your comments. |
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Skyfire 
since 2000-12-27
Posts 3381Riding |
Huh. For some reason I get the feeling that there is more to this than what can be gleaned from just one reading. My second reading of this left me contemplative and somewhat amazed at how much of this I know from both my fascination with the 60's and 70's and 80's and my own experience... an experience that teenagers are living firsthand in today's world. Made me think about some of the choices that may be looming in my own future... thank you for the reality check  |
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Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
No need to change a thing! The "Bad Trips" made for good reading!  Warm hugs, EA |
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Patricia Member Elite
since 2003-04-06
Posts 2160Missouri |
I loved this. I was just telling a friend that I was born too late. I wanted to be a part of this time...the revolution that took place in this country. I still love reading about that period of time as I did when I was a teen. You have so many great lines in this piece. But in its entirety, you captured the period as I know it to be...with new light shed on events from your unique perspective. Gosh, I think I will have to revisit this era a few more times through your eyes. Extraordinary, Icebox Extraordinary, Icebox -Patricia |
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whiskey
since 1999-12-28
Posts 1278Australia |
This is great I always wanted to be born in this era, and I was born a decade too late. This piece is a wonderful ride though the times you described I could feel what it was like to be around then. Julie |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
You've taken me on a magical memory trip through time, revisiting part of my reality, and reminding me why I: stuck flowers in the barrel of a gun, why I marched and chanted for Peace through Golden Gate Park, why I marched through the Bank Of America protesting the way they used our local University investment funds, why I shook hands with Jane Fonda, why I still believe in believing we can be better than we really are. I'll be keeping this piece, dear icebox. |
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nakdthoughts Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200Between the Lines |
I lived through that time...or maybe despite it. I was one of those straight ones, never chancing or daring or finding the need to. But I remember the details clearly, watching on the sidelines. And your words bring it all back. M |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows |
Skyfire ~ You are right. The 60's and early 70's for me are a kaleidoscopic somewhat disjointed mix of images and memories. Some pleasant ones, but not many. It was a busy time for me and I went many places and did many things, some I wish I could remember and most I wish I could forget. Thank you for reading my poem. Earth Angel ~ Thank you for reading my poem. I am glad you enjoyed it. Patricia ~ Some important parts of the world changed back then and in the USA there really was a revolution; the country actually came closer to a real civil war than most people will ever know. Maybe when all of us who lived through it are finally gone, historians will untangle it all and be able tell the truth. Enjoy the music and the hopes and dreams, the sense of eternal playfulness that was common. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for your comments. whiskey ~ I think it really was the last decade of true freedom. Personal security was still a matter of personal responsibility. Identities were easily changed and starting over was a long standing American tradition. For many, drugs and sex and rock and roll music really were major food groups. In some ways it was a decade long celebration after the burial of the 19th century. It was then that the majority of the planet's leaders, friend and foe, had for the first time been born in the 20th century. Some parallel of this will occur later in this 21st century. Perhaps humans will do better by then. *wink* Midnitesun ~ I bet you did stick flowers in gun barrels! *laugh* Golden Gate Park was quite a world back then. "I really love the, "girls say yes to boys who say no" movement! It was an innocence that was painful to lose. Thank you for reading this and for your kind comments. nakdthoughts ~ Yes, many of us survived despite the times and the circumstances, despite what with hindsight was perhaps good or perhaps bad judgement. I was fairly old before I realized that my life had been less ordinary than I thought it was while I was living through those times. Thank you for reading this and for your comments. My children sometimes ask me about those years. I tell them stories out of context. Little vignettes like polished stones, but I work at never telling them enough to connect the dots. They know me as a different person than the person I was then. I prefer that and I think it is best for them. Despite all the celebration of life which occurred back then, there also was a dark side to that decade. |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Thank you for the reply and explanation. I thought maybe I had misunderstood the tone. And I hope you'll decide to share more of these stories. Back to the top with this. |
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Bill Charles Member Patricius
since 2000-07-11
Posts 10619highways, & byways, for now |
icebox - so true, so true... BC |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Icebox I lived in the Berkeley, San Francisco area in the early 60's, it was such a time of change in me, reflected in the bigger place of world. Yet in my youth and folly my focus was on me. It was a blessed time, fragrant with bright buildings and silver slanted rain on nights with no umbrella, wild and free in youthful negligence, that lovely dimpling on the satin water where shacks of light drowned. There were verdant hills melting houses muted colors of fog glistening bright steel glass eyed buildings that watched with such gleaming strength that reverie burned. Thanks for bringing back a memory...some bitter, yet sweet. |
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icebox Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383in the shadows |
Bill Charles ~ Thank you for reading this and for your comment. Martie ~ I hope you enjoyed your memories; thank you for reading mine. |
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latearrival Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499Florida |
This belongs back at the top. Excellent. late |
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