Best Seventies Poems
I wore popular shin high white boots,
The top in rage of disco dancing queens.
The Bee Gees were the utmost in the clan
The alter of quantifying demeans.
Revolutionary, the stance we took,
The freedom of iconoclastic paths
To justify rebellious avenues
That swayed the truth in plain objective wraths.
Our music was the strength we built upon.
To satiate an inward longing for
An understanding from our wings of youth
To dwell upon that which we needed more;
Our voices to be heard above the din
Of righteous antiquated old ideals
To sway the right of multi-media
Into the light of deference that’s real.
To end the Viet Nam war was a quest
Of Yuppies and of Hippies, both agreed,
A war of no beginnings or endings
Should dissolve hate for races to succeed.
A bracelet worn to honor POW's
Those lost in war whose bodies never found,
Embraced the sorrows that remain today
Of those lost souls sore buried in the ground.
The seventies are burnt upon my mind.
In vivid dreams of nonconformist ways.
I dwell upon the heroes giving grace
To rectify the military maze.
3-1-18
I absolutely could not pare this down to the required
20 lines for the contest, so it cannot be an entry.
I was newly thirteen when the seventies took me underwing,
then married and grown when they creased inside time’s fold.
I was not attracted to those scholastic or athletic,
but to those lacking labels and considered rebels.
Moving yearly filled my army-brat life with sad good-byes
that swerved my teenage years thru countless, deep cries.
When the decade first began, I had paper and pen in hand
to secretly write the poetry holding my heart slams.
At thirteen, poems first bubbled in me to be pen-freed.
I still have most as lost girl written within my teen season.
In the seventies I fell in love with love, astrology, spirituality,
Kahlil Gibran, Thoreau, individuality as resonated in me
from Ann Rand’s, “The Fountainhead”, and lyrics on which I fed.
The Who, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Neil Young and Elton John
sang lines that thrilled me and I fantasized were mine, all mine,
as did Carole King, CCR, Eagles and Beatles when they sang.
Rock n Roll beats and crying guitars inebriated my limits,
such music moved me in defiance of compliance to physics.
Thru rock’s depths and denim, I was a seventies thoroughbred
who has poetically wept since first the decade's innocence bled.
I stood before the mirror, one last check,
a quick inspection, then head off to town,
silver kipper tie around the neck,
shirt of green, sports jacket of light brown.
Platform shoes on, I boogie down the street,
a first date to look forward to that night,
flared pants flapped in the breeze around my feet,
and my jacket lapels both jinked like kites.
I patted my breast pocket to make sure
my cheque book was inside there, just in case
the night I had in mind costed more
and ended up leaving me sat red faced.
She met me outside Ramsdens, half past eight,
I kissed her cheek and said how good she looked,
went in the bar, got drinks for the short wait,
eight forty-five I had our table booked.
Melon boat for a starter, prawn cocktail,
then chicken in a basket with some fries,
two ice cream sundaes, wafers stood like sails,
we ate and gazed into each other's eyes.
Once the Mateus Rose wine was downed
the waiter swiftly took our plates away,
I paid the bill, got change from twenty pounds,
the chequebook lived to fight another day.
I saw her on the bus, a brief embrace,
a kiss, for one second did our lips meld,
she smiled goodbye, I tried to read her face,
her eyes gave no clue what the future held.
Though forty years have passed since that one date,
my mind still recalls every detail now,
I was told she'd someone else by my best mate,
I pause and still remember her.
The cow.
22nd February 2018
For contest 'where were you in the 70's ', sponsor Line Gauthier.
WHERE WERE YOU IN THE SEVENTIES
i was between a tween and adult, in the house of the hudson valley,
and music was my main man,
i would hear whispered in my ear
me and mrs. jones...we got a thing goin’ on
and i would rock to sleep
don’t rock the boat...don’t knock the boat over
dress in a low cut purple dress, and look for mr. goodbar
or what i meant to say mr. travolta
in the dizzying display of disco, having a ball.
really i was just a shy nerd in a dress
you say i was a dancing queen...only seventeen...oh yeah
and i did have saturday night fever
and with the death of several classmates, not in shootings, but illness
and the usual car accidents...radio groans all we are is dust in the wind
after heartbreak of loss via death and puppy love
i did not sign the loan to return to college, went on to,
as i used to say “swab the seven corners of the room”
as the village people and my dad directed me to
in the navy...you will sail the seven seas...in the navy…
you will put your life at ease...bootcamp saw the end of 1979
2/27/2018
Line Gauthier’s Poetry Contest
*Lyrics may be slightly changed
Me and Mrs. Jones by Billy Paul
Rock The Boat by The Hues Corporation
Movie: Looking For Mr. Goodbar
Dancing Queen by Abba
Movie: Saturday Night Fever
Dust in the Wind by Kansas
Puppy Love by Donny Osmond (still swooning over
this song from the sixties)
In The Navy by Village People
I could write a poem of all the headlines,
most influential people, and important events of the decade,
but instead, I’ll share with you some of my memories…
my first memories (when the decade ended, I was seven).
I remember our mustard yellow and avocado green furniture,
watching Kroft Puppets, The Muppets, Captain Kangaroo,
Land of the Lost and Little House on the Prairie;
I remember music, lots of music – Dad playing drums
and taking me to concerts, Mom dancing (she loved the Rolling Stones).
Much of my favorite music is from the seventies…
Andy Gibb was my favorite singer and Telephone Line was my favorite song;
which reminds me…I remember our telephone cord being so long,
we could walk from the kitchen to the living room while talking on it.
I remember the vacuum cleaner was HUGE. I thought it would eat me alive.
I could play 10 songs on the jukebox at Pizza Hut for a dollar, and
the compartment stereo in my house was bigger than a jukebox.
It seems everything was bigger in the seventies.
My mom’s Monte Carlo was huge….
I remember coloring a lot and playing board games.
A handheld pinball machine was the closest thing we had to a video game.
I loved tether ball, roller skating, riding my bike (no helmet),
playing outside (without the fear of being abducted), paper dolls,
my easy bake oven, monogrammed shirts (I thought I was Laverne),
clogs, patent leather sandals, ruffled socks, my Holly Hobby doll,
my troll dolls, my plastic record player, MY RECORDS;
I remember disco dancing with my older cousins –
doing the Bump, the Hustle, the Funky Chicken…
Many great memories, but not all...
I remember people smoking everywhere even on airplanes,
some in my own family; I remember the Miami race riots
that started in 1979, seeing the smoke and not understanding;
I remember waiting in long gas lines, when Elvis was found dead,
Three Mile Island, my dad talking about friends who died in Vietnam,
tying yellow ribbons around our trees, and trying to understand
concepts like divorce, hatred and death.
I hold onto the good memories much tighter.
You ask me;
Where was I in the Seventies?
This was my decade, my formative years.
I was a long-haired rebel without a cause,
Football was my religion, rapture and tears.
Discovering Progressive Rock Music,
A Drifter in Satin suit and flares.
No need of drugs, I was high on life,
Free spirited, no worries, no cares.
Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Leeds United,
A soundtrack to my youth filled days.
I worked hard, no burdens or commitments,
Records and Football took my pay.
Never strayed away from Yorkshire,
Faithful to my Northern roots.
Forever Twenty-One in the Seventies,
In my flares and Satin suits.
Written 7/3/18
For Line's Contest of the same name
seventies music
so many fine groups back then
such as Three Dog Night
Early 70's suffered from post puberty traumatic stress
running to the school bus stop my belongings a mess
at times missing the bus and walking to school
enjoying my time alone and the suburban view
Graduated from my NY high school in 1975
worked a variety of jobs I was staying alive
took advantage of my typing and became a clerk typist
driving on the LIE everyday getting stuck in traffic
Went out dancing a bit with friends at times
working by day and trying to find the right guy
the Vietnam War had ended which was great
then onto gas shortages and the televised soap opera Watergate
Lived at home for awhile and paid rent to my parents
a blue collar working girl whose low salary was apparent
would have loved to have been more like Mary Tyler Moore
with my own apartment and friends knocking at my door
That decade on Long Island I had my share of ups and downs
a little flighty female trying to find my way around
a realistic dreamer trying to row merrily along in life's stream
on occasion putting my oars down conjuring up new dreams
2-22-19
The early seventies was rather interesting
one minute hanging out with a pack of wolves
predators of the night... the next... nine weeks in boot camp
on the great lakes in Winter...so cold
then off to a very large aircraft carrier
where I spent the next two years roaming its flight decks
until..." Parker, are you, Parker "
you have fifteen minutes to get off the ship
and thirty days to make it to Memphis, Tenn
for aviation electronics school...problem...yes it was
we were in port in Naples, not Naples Fl, Naples Italy
so off I went to find the NATO base to catch a flight to Spain
but...being the red-blooded American boy I was
I decided to rent a room for two weeks in Naples, Italy
and enjoy the nightlife...so I did just that
after two weeks found NATO, flew to Spain
enjoyed a few days there, then flew to the states
made it to Memphis with a day to spare
2/23/18 contest Where were you in the 70's
Hemming my new bell bottoms.
Summer radio blaring to best seventies hits.
School's out ~ life is good.
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: 1st place 2026
Stage set: Nineteen Seventy-Two
Enter threshold Jolly Jumper bouncing baby girl
toes grazing the shag
Next scene a little quicker
Clad in plaid she's a Big Wheels and corduroy blur
moving the plot along
Intermission (Orange Crush, Pop Rocks and Pixie Sticks)
Action: The games begin
Go Fish your Fisher Price Little People
out of the sandbox
you're too young to play with Matchbox
so cool until that Etch A Sketchy kid
sends your Slinky down the stairs
Plot twist: the corner store Mexican Jumping Beans
were infinitely more entertaining than Pet Rocks
The End
Well not "The End"
Training wheels are off and so is the star of the show
Careening towards the eighties
With her Choose Your Own Adventure collection in tow
18.02.25
Composed for Line Gauthier's
Where were you in the 70's?
Where are you going? I wondered as they toddled by.
They were dressed in hippie costumes, and I wondered why.
They are heading to nineteen seventy, another said.
I loved this and kept it alive all day in my head.
If I was heading to the seventies, I would need a vee double you.
It would have to be sassy and girly, pink ought to do.
I would take my two besties and we would head toward the beach.
We would be playful and virginal, and stay out of everyone’s reach.
red hot lava lamp
shaggedy raggedy rug
peace sign plump flower
bell bottom hip huggers
fake fur vests and free love
open hearts, open ideas
nineteen seventy
volkswagon buses and Viet Nam
such a contradiction
If I said "you had a beautiful body" don't hide,
I never lied though I may have tried
please "would you hold it against me,"
I coulda been your "Love Machine"
and you, my "Disco Lady."
"I love you more than I can say"
"Everything is beautiful" in those younger days.
It's the "age of aquarius", and I'm "On top of the world"
a dream child of the seventies on a "Midnight train to Georgia"
with "Time in a bottle" ready and willing to "Rock the boat".
Missed the Woodstock extravaganza free love lurch
but I was off on an expeditionary search
of myself and peace and love not "War" unhurt,
so "Rock me gently" and "I'll write the songs"
'cause "you ain't seen nothing yet."
If I sing the songs and "If you could read my mind"
they'd be heard again to vibrate in my heart
after all, I'm was just a "Gypsy, Tramp and Thief"..
A ghost of the past with my counterparts;
still hanging on in "troubled Waters"
best now to pack it all away and "Let it be"
all those memories "I can see clearly now"
the 1970s are "Killing me softly" .
Note: I know Age of Aquarius was 1967, so now you know, I'm a child of the 60s but woke up in the 70s.
I
had passed
my childhood
milestones when I
reached the seventies.
In nineteen seventy
I entered high school wearing
bell bottoms and sometimes - hot pants!
In that decade, I happened to reach
most of the chief milestones of adulthood!
I started college, studied abroad, came
back home, soon married, had two kids and
graduated – in one decade!
Having experienced much,
I now let my mind roam
in my happy phase
of poetry,
recalling
all of
life.
Feb. 27, 2018 for Line Gauthier's "Where Were You In the Seventies?" Contest