Best Eighties Poems
Learned to drive in 1980; it became a must.
The car I bought soon broke down; “Another One Bites the Dust!”
With two kids by ‘81 - plus work. My tired bones!
“Start Me Up” kept being sung by the Rolling Stones.
“Hungry Like the Wolf” was I; what future would be mine?
Prince knew back in ‘82 how great was ‘99!
Culture Club and Cyndi Lauper put me in the groove
when to a house in ‘83 we then made a move.
Michael and Madonna in the next year were the rage.
But a baby blue Camaro in my life took center stage!
“Walk Like an Egyptian” sang the Bangles. We did more!
In ‘85 we headed west to California’s shore.
Pre-86 we’d always been “Livin’ On a Prayer.”
But once in the Bay Area, much better we would fare!
In ‘87, boating with my kids and spouse was cool!
I saw George Michael’s concert, and our complex had a pool.
Teaching dance aerobics, having all the fun I could.
For my family, ‘88 was “Straight Up” crazy good!
89’s big earthquake hit; my husband’s work was done.
“Free Fallin’” we then headed home. Farwell to West Coast sun!
November 8, 2018 for
Michelle Faulkner's 'Remembering the 1980's' Poetry Contest
(I loved the music of that time and tried to represent a bit of it in each couplet)
My daughter wondered how things differed
Back when she was born,
Aside from styles of music
Or the clothing that was worn.
We didn’t have computers then.
“What did you do?” she gasped.
We researched in the library,
A concept she’s not grasped.
We had no cell phones. “How’d you reach
The people that you called?”
We used a land line or a pay phone;
She was just appalled.
We didn’t have CD’s or movies
Out on DVD’s.
She thought that was hilarious
And answered, “Come on, please!”
The changes don’t seem too extreme
But still, it made us grin,
That what we take for granted now –
Well, hasn’t always been.
I guess when centenarians
Think back and reminisce
They must be thinking – all those years
Have brought us up to – this?
The nineteen 80's
Early eighties was my sweet teens,
as I could see every thing in greens,
College canteen and vegetable patties,
Oh my youthful eighties !
Remember those days of bunking classes,
late night parties and clinking of glasses,
Old movies and handsome heroes,
Exam days and highly probable zeroes,
Writing letters was then an art,
No mobiles, postages also not that smart,
Interactions and lot of clinical acumen,
Computer machines were beyond imagine,
Lots of time for pondering and retrospection,
Busy now the life is, not even introspection ??
Written March 7th, 2015
For contest "Decades" by Kelly Deschler
Time traveling Delorean
He-Man and Hulk Hogan
Eddie Murphy and Eurythmics
Excellent Bill & Ted
I want my MTV!
Girls just wanna have fun
Huge hair and van Halen
Thriller, and Tom Cruise, totally!
I Love Rock n' Roll
E.T. Phone Home
Sixteen Candles to St. Elmo's Fire
10/12/18
The hair now had bright colors
With music, came a rap craze
The style of dress was so different
Things changed in so many ways
Malls had become the hot spots
As video games made the scene
There was an actor in the White House
And a scandalous beauty queen
There were traders on the inside
With a boycotted Olympics year
The drinking age was changed about
While club drugs became the fear
Eighties Shadies
There once were two fine Southern Ladies
Both sisters and late in their eighties
By day who were prim
Come night hit the gin
And skinny-dipped down in the shadies.
©deborah burch~11.19.17
(Limerick)
1980
With deep sadness, I heard the awful news,
My favourite stand up comedian Richard Pryor,
It was June 9th while being in a drug-induced psychosis,
He poured rum over his body and set himself on fire.
1981
It was cold December everywhere was covered with snow,
I was living in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 24th day,
Everything was in order, all was going remarkably well,
I said I do and married my wife Elizabeth Daye.
1983 - 1984
My wife gave birth to my first daughter, Lily, Louise,
She was a beautiful child not because she was mine,
Sofie, Lexie was born giving me daughter number two;
That was May the year after on a sunny morning on day nine.
1986
Shocked I was by the sudden death of my beloved father,
I was the youngest and looked very much like him;
Six months after that, I was to receive the same news,
The death of my grandmother Kimberley but we called her Kim.
What it look like, home?
Mofo been messin’ with my chick.
Cat thinks he slick.
He cuttin' me to the bone.
I want to see him alone
I got to hit him with my stick.
Ain’t nobody gonna mess with me.
‘Cause I am number one, you see!
So what’s been shakin’ with you, blood?
Anybody messin’ with you?
You still seein’ that honey?
She takin’ all your money?
She givin' you the itch?
You gotta trash that *****.
Robert Pettit for Craig Cornish Talk That Way contest.
Lydia in 1988’s movie Beetlejuice was my first Goth experience.
Winona Ryder did a fabulous job of making Goth feel normal.
I adored everything about her character.
The best movie character since Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Gave me a feeling of hope in the upcoming movie makers.
I waited years and years and years for another great character.
I mean twenty years or more.
Luckily someone finally made Mulan and The Crods.
Both cartoon movies which helped me resume my faith in movie makers.
It isn't a secret I'm still in love with the ladies
Gorgeous females are most definitely my frailty
Could stop anytime
But sex drive is prime
It's even tougher when we get to our eighties!
Way back in the eighties decade
when the computer wasn't as ace
that was when the pc era began
then we lived at a quieter pace
The first space shuttle came to be
man entering into the great unknown
the cold war came to an end
some peaceful seeds were sowing
The Berlin wall came down
east and west became as one
famine in Africa caused a stir
so live aid caused much to be done
On the movie front much to enjoy
sporting fans loved chariots of fire
Ghandi was a historical classic
watching Driving Miss Daisy no one would tire
Real stars emerged on music scene
Madonna and Whitney were all the rage
Michael J was a real star act
especially when dancing on stage
These were the days of the eighties
we remember with fondest zeal
so many changes since then
but it's still got same appeal
Inches to dimes running out of time. Money, space, and a broken place are the only times I remember her face. Tonight I need your sweet caress and playing piano in the dark keep circulating through my sound cloud, and I just want to write poems to 80's music. Go back to a time before viruses inflicted knowledge on my innocence. I was about four feet high and my limitations were as high as the sky. My mind was never at ground level until the day she entered the elevator of my psyche and asked "up or down?" Speechless, I began fumbling, realizing there was more to us than boy's have es and girl's had more than pink cookies in a plastic bag being crushed by buildings. Her question sent me on a crusade. I wanted to be paid in full so I could afford her dime like intellect. She had me dreaming as if I was Billy Ocean. I began warring with self to prove God could really do the impossible and when I finally found the nerve to ask her for a dance, she was already holding someone else's hand. Damn! I always seem to have inches to dimes, now Babyface is singing, "It's no crime." Tough when you're sentenced for a misappropriation of time.
Once was a vibrant community but that was yesterday...
Then the Coronavirus came along and took it all away.
Our freedom we took for granted, nor did we live in fear.
But now we are paying the price with everything we hold dear.
Generations are dying and more grieving is yet to come.
How many will be left when this deadly virus is done?
Will we finally learn the lesson and start to slow things down?
Even though Perth is a small City, it feels like a country town.
So take a step back, pause a moment and breathe.
The environment is already cleaner, it's not just about you and me.
Every day is like Sunday so sit back and relax.
Enjoy the precious gift of family, and here's a few facts.
Sundays start with a long sleep in and waking up to bacon, eggs and toast.
And fetching the paper from the front lawn before organising the Sunday roast.
Sundays were all about family and a day we stayed at home.
The shops were never open, so we never went out to roam.
We could stay in our pjs all day long because no one ever cared.
It was Sunday and we relaxed and sometimes went back to bed.
The day was always peaceful, and we valued simple things.
Such as watching the midday movie or sitting on the backyard swings.
We didn't have the internet or distraction of mobile phones.
We would read books, and talk to each other and kept our private matters at home.
So don't look at this as a bad thing it's only a short lockdown.
This is Sunday Every Day and when it's gone you'd wish it back around!
Should'a been born in the early 80's
Rock n Roll, Motley Crue, Kiss, Joan Jet,
I wear bandana's and my hair in a hot-as-hell poof
Metalica shirts and skinny jeans,
Leather pants and cut up Tee's,
My nails are done in black and hot pink.
High boots and high sneaks,
I got some sexy kicks,
rings on my fingers, Chains on my neck,
Drinkin all night and thinkin bout sex,
I got that Rock N Roll In my ears,
A high pitch scream sayin Hell Yeah!
Party all night, sleep all day,
I shoulda been an 80's Babe.
The sudden eighties music craze
had gone beyond the norm
the local supermarket
was swept along by the storm
as more and more of the shoppers
joined in with the revival
filling up on nostalgia
from t-shirts to CDs and vinyl
Reaping the customer whirlwind
for Boy George and Eurythmics tracks
some smart Alec from head office
said “This is no time to Relax!”
the mullet headed store manager
he looked a manic Midge Ure
a sarcastic lad on the tannoy
said “Sorry, but we’ve got no Cure”
Over at customer services
I said a mistake’s being made
“The seventies had John Lennon
Bob Marley, T. Rex, Slade!”
the guy claimed to be sympathetic
towards my point of view
then asked me to go on a website
and give him a Five Star review
A wise woman sat at the checkout
smiled to me as she said
“When this fad blows over
they’ll still want milk and bread”
so the moral to this story
is one of wisdom not sadness
that everyone’s entitled to
their little bit of Madness.