Best 1960S Poems
Oh… how I miss that time! With it’s Saturday morning cartoons.
Not to mention, daily comics stolen from Papa’s newspaper, too!
Saturday was way better! With Snoopie, Little Abner, and friends.
Now I can’t find a newspaper! Or any more of those ‘News Stands’!
It would have been wonderful, to bring Dragon to ‘Show and Tell’!
To go outside to play with my friends, instead of texting from cells!
Play ‘Hide and Seek’ together, instead of computer games, I think!
Always walking with friends, not separately, driven everywhere…
But life goes on, they do say. Sigh! As we’ve lost those golden rules.
Drugs were rumored somewhere else, now at our children’s school.
We used to play at a neighbors house, now, they’re all out at the Mall.
Why can’t we just have fun, and with safe neighborhoods, all around?
Where are all the children, and beloved stay at home, kind of Moms?
Instead the children are in daycares, forgetting they even have a Mom.
They’re gaining a group mentality, and bullying is far, out of control.
Where is all the supervision? Will the children ever, be the same again?
I miss my Mom’s good cooking, with only occasional fast food stuff.
Where are GP rated TV shows: they’re all now, filled with violent crime.
We used to love the babysitter, now it’s TV’s with hundreds of channels.
But best of all, we talked and talked, not texted, all day into a cell phone!
If I could give one thing to my child, one day in the past, would be my gift.
But he might not even understand, what I’m trying to give to him… at all.
I expect he’d be bored, and find the first opportunity to try to get away.
He’d, laugh at ever going back there, again! … I could cry! … Heavy, Sigh!
Women's liberation
Bras burned
Girls were confused…excited!
Gloria Steinem central figure,
Speaks out.
Women shout.
Politicians doubt.
Equal Rights!
New thinking. New songs. New vocabulary.
Debating: Equal jobs for equal pay.
Strong women.
Many followers.
Surprisingly, numerous men quit opening doors.
Woodstock proclaims, “Make love, not war!”
Many soldiers die; "Vietnam Conflict" rages.
Soldiers come home, their world, changed.
War heroes were ignored.
Women worked untraditional jobs.
Many prayed.
Many died.
© May 25, 2011
Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen
Written for Poetry Soup Member Contest: MAGIC OF DECADE'S MOOD
Sponsored by: nette onclaud
The shop floor view of the newly promoted
Oh to be the factory foreman and to wear a posh white coat
Just the thought of all that power brings a lump right to your throat
No more dirty hands or hob nail boots or boiler suits for you
No more rushing through your break time just relax and drink your brew
Carrying your briefcase, there’s no need for you to hide it
We all know that like your head there’s not a lot inside it
With your clipboard and your pencil you can wander round the site
Whilst assuming great authority you put us workers right
You believe we are in awe of you and hold you in esteem
If that is what you really think your living in a dream
We have seen all your back stabbing and we don’t know how you sleep
Everybody knows you as a sycophantic creep
We heard you telling everyone in the works canteen
That you now had access to the managers latrine
It’s true that for promotion you were first past the post
Yet the workers here all see you as a bigger pratt than most
We have read all your new rules and how we face the sack
We are all in the union and we’ll be fighting back
Don’t go thinking as a foreman that your future is secured
Your about to be upended by a young smart-arsed shop steward
When it comes to all teenagers (teen boys and teen girls) falling in love with each other
back in the 1960s, it was a beautiful thing. The 1960s were also the decade when the
British Invasion began, especially when the Beatles had made their way to the American
music scene and the Rolling Stones had made their way to the rock and roll music scene in
Hollywood, California. But before the Civil Rights Act and other laws were in effect, all
public places, including the diners, were segregated before being integrated. It seems
that both of the then-young lovebirds really had a great time, especially when they went
to see a movie and stuff. It was the year 1960 until the year 1969, way before the 1980s
were born, even me. Back in the 1960s, before MTV made its TV channel debut, these two
teen lovebirds had gone out to eat at a diner, they went to a drive-in movie, a school
functioning (including the high school dance), anything these two have done on a Saturday
night. Their favorite love songs of all time when a man and a woman were teenage lovers
were "My Girl" by the Temptations, "Do Wah Diddy" by Manfred Mann, "My Boyfriend's Back"
by the Angels, and "Happy Together" by the Turtles. Even when the "World Peace" slogan
began and Woodstock 1969 became the grooviest music festival among all teen couples, it
was a great time for them. And as for the Flower Children, who were teenagers at the time,
it was also love at first sight for them. But now that the 1960s are gone, it'll be a
groovy decade for all of the then-teenage couples will always remember.
some other world passed by that night
through wet circles on the glass.
against the blur of dark and light
crowds swarmed and walked en-masse.
the storm picked up along South Shore
spitting patterns on the screen.
the wipers rubbed and squeaked once more
leaving fan shapes where they’d been.
the lights that danced above the clubs
were synced to move like real.
they chased down piers and past the pubs
and round the ferris wheel.
our car would crawl and stop again
as we queued in single file.
through steamed up windows and driving rain
beat the heart of The Golden Mile.
The back of the leg was seen as a place
That was suitable for a slap,
For a child who was rude, or out of control,
Or who stood in the kitchen when Mum had been baking,
And who sneakily stole
A freshly-baked, still-warm sausage roll,
Who, on hearing a footstep,
Stuffed it in her mouth – whole,
And received a slap, and a sending to bed,
To think about what she had done.
Now it’s fifty years on, and Mum’s long gone,
And looking back, I guess I deserved that slap,
But who could resist a freshly-baked, still-warm sausage roll?
Hollywood’s Lucille Ball, loved by many,
had an enormously profound effect on me.
She was funny and kind and goofy,
and so wonderful, she lit up my 1960’s TV.
My favorite show of hundreds of thousands
is of her and Ethel making candy.
Until Carol Burnett came along, I thought a funnier
woman could never be.
This gorgeous entertainer will probably never
know the enormous effect she has on me still today.
Many an evening I laugh until I cry at her
funny antics on my TV, I love to watch her play.
Back in my day we had the radio on at my house in early mornings.
We gardened in the summer and ate the food all year round.
It was so much more fresh and tasty than canned or frozen.
We shared the extra with the neighbors, and we knew their names.
Back in my day everyone could “mom” or “dad” you.
You were respectful of your elders, your youngers and everyone else.
The parents were in charge, not the kids. It was their rules.
No child would have bragged about telling their parents what to do.
Back in my day we had two pairs of shoes, not ten pairs.
Plain for school, fancy black patent leather shoe for Sunday School.
No computers or I-phones or I-pads to separate us from our family.
We talked to each other during lunch and supper.
Back in my day teenagers did not have cars. They walked everywhere.
They got a job and earned the money if they wanted to buy a car.
They saved their money until they could pay for the whole car.
I do not remember credit card debt in the 50's or 60's.
Back in my day grandparents lived with their children when they aged.
Very few were shipped off to old folks’ homes; most taught us things.
How to garden, knit, sew, fix a car’s engine. They were valuable.
We started out with black, white and grayscale TV back in my day
beware atomic attack!
1950s civil defense
duck and cover drills
Bert the turtle
showed us the way
flash of light - duck and cover!
MARVEL 1960s
As I journey into mystery
I come across the tower of shadows
Into the chamber of darkness
I'm found tales to astonish
Hulking and giant men
Sub marina
Involved in tales of supense
Iron men and american Captains
Oh! but strange tales
Doctors and one eye patch wearing --
government men
Women named Millie and Chili
and both of them are modeling
Alien beings silver surfering in the skies
UFO's and nova alien beings from all over
Barbarian conan astonishing tales
Kazar Doctors of doom, ghost riders
Adventures amazing inhumans
Black widow, cloak and dagger
Rawhide kid Sgtof fury howling commandos
Leatherneck raiders and Captain Savage
dun know if ya old enough
or even if you know what I'm talkin bout
Mention titles above of marvel 1960's hero books
who say's this poem has to rryme of even be good
I said mention above titles of old marvel comic texts
And yea I'll even mention "NOT BRAnD ECHH"
MARVEL 1960s
Written by James Edward Lee Sr.
12/23/17
Cher, Tina, Liza, the Beach Boys too
Elvis singing of two shoes, both blue
Finger motions with Bunny Foo Foo
A whiff of Old Spice and Elmer’s Glue
Lennon’s Fancy My Chances With You
Pop beads, Skipper dolls, TM’s guru,
1960’s items make me smile and coo
And feel seventeen for an hour or two
The stale still win and the pulsating sounds of police sirens
Followed by the hard thud of a twelve gate shot gun firing
Instantly tears my heart to shreds
Because another black man or should I say another ***** is dead
As I ran to the scene of bloodshed and tears
What I see is what I feared
I fall down to my knees
And with a thunderous cry I beg
The Lord to have mercy on me please
And like our savior Jesus Christ before his time of doom
I cried out to God with a voice of gloom
And asked him to take away from me this black curse, this black sin
That seems to follow me and my black skin
And then
I uplifted mine eyes and I saw
This very thing that they called the law
Plunging towards me with eyes filled with hate
The intensity of the situation leaving me in a shocked state
I heard the crack of my skull, felt the dept of the bruise
And I knew that this was my destiny
The one I didn't choose
Then it all went dead, I remembered nothing after that
Everything suddenly faded to black
Back to black
Where it all began
-Lyric-
Tom the Cat has some new amazing ideas up his sleeve.
He is constantly outsmarted by Jerry, a mouse who is his peeve.
He has built a mousetrap guaranteed to get this varmint once and for all.
It is camouflaged like leaves, and about sixteen feet tall.
Tom is confident that he will be eating roasted mouse tonight.
He loves the idea of grilling Jerry up; a tasty rodent delicacy delight.
Jerry has outsmarted him for the last time, he is sure of this.
He chases Jerry into the yard, but alas, something goes amiss.
Tom the Cat ends up in the mousetrap and all the mice are laughing.
He is caught in his own slick idea, while the mice lie down for napping.
What the heck! Why do the animators tease and torment him this way?
He is forlorn and angry again for the remainder of another bad day.
upon contemplating how to access
a lapsed half century woolworth
didst weigh more'n five and dime
afore i hove up existential ante
bell and clapper journeys
truncated, predicated, conjugated
on abundant buoyant chant
eyelids gently shuttered while seated
in an easy chair, a grant
from anonymously disposed rubbish
to schlep this accoutrement did enduce a pant
cuz, this mid dull ledged papa no spring rooster,
and now easily became ensconced with scant
exertion enveloped within comfortably numb
meditative state tant
a mount to hypnosis, which quickly quietly,
and quintessentially evoked bliss
stirred wordsmith hood succomb
to an altered state, analogous to virtual reality, a hiss
sans, remembrance of things past,
whereby with negligible mental effort wuss
sold magical mindbending arch, whereat a
(rainbow like emulation mode), this miss
sing Whoosh DID NOT require
much cerebral exertion from me
to pry loose avast treasure trove
of locked precious childhood memories
visited by hindsight aye could see
long since stowed away,
yet methought Xmas theme would re
mind this baby boomer prithee
(encased in nearly inpenetrable
thick gauzy cobwebs, and huge...
droning spy ware spiders did flee
thence, with a figurative brush of hand,
a simulacrum curtain pulled back, whence glee
son shone vis a vis, cuz,
an illusory chink of light shed forth where he
upon forgotten one favorite
nursery rhyme lyrics, which faux holographic beam
recollected as if momentarily carried back
to me own ole Virginny hide deem
stood atop raised causeway immersed
That peacock is straight out of the sixties I told the throng.
One of them was way too young to know. He said that I was wrong.
He is the colors of the sixties – oranges, yellows and pink.
How do you know? He asked me. Was he afraid to think?