It
was fab it was groovy
it
was color swirling
across
your Nehru jacket
your bell bottoms and
into
your mind it was
freedom
it was liberation
it
was higher level
of
consciousness Hair
Magical
Mystery Tour went
one
toke over the line
Dylan
of course of course
he
was the coolest Hendrix
Joplin
Morrison how many
ways
you could you kill
yourself
Pop Art Pop! Guns
the
3 Ks Kennedy King Kennedy
acid
pot speed kills free love
Peter
Max psychedelic art
painting
peace give it a chance
If
you remember the 60s
baby
then
you weren’t there
just
not there
baby
just
not
there
baby
Today’s
Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets
is “pop art” – and served up
just about any way you want it. I selected artist Peter Max, mainly because I
can remember his art and popularity when I was a college student and young
adult. To see more poems based on the prompt, please visit dVerse Poets.
Top painting: Liberty Head by Peter Max.
Bottom painting: Split fountain (self-portrait) by Peter Max.
You nailed it -- pop culture is all stereotype, so much so that it sheathes, hides, replaces the memory of actual events. I lived through it, mostly vicariously (I was still a kid), but there wasn't any way to suffer the Dionysian smoke secondhand. I loved Peter Max the way I loved Grand Funk Railroad: If you could imitate the real thing with those sort of hands, maybe it would be enough to bring the girls around .... Great poem. (You make me wonder though, what's behind those fantastical bisons of Lascaux? Kilroy? Miss Paleolithic?) - Brendan
ReplyDeleteso cool glynn...love your voice here...quite the beat..ha...i was born in wild 68...way too late...so i missed all the fun...haha...
ReplyDeleteYup. Remember it all. But not very fondly! Great coverage, Glynn. You hit it!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your list poem. I lived (to remember) it.
ReplyDeleteAmazingly, Peter Max is still around, still making and selling art. He just unveiled a poster commissioned for the 2012 Centennial Celebration of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C., which will be expanded beyond its normal two weeks. There's a video of him introducing it here:
http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/2011/09/28/peter-max-named-official-artist-for-2012-centennial-celebration/
I lived all of that too-- and this is a great tour back through it-- very evocative and cleanly drawn images. Never figured you for vintage 60's, Glynn-- xj
ReplyDeleteGlynn, I love the art/artist that you chose to represent the era. I must confess, I do remember the sixties, but never got a chance to experience the essense of it as you've portrayed here. Liked that you evoked the 3 assasinations, the colors, the poets. Excellent pop art poem.
ReplyDeletehow many ways you can kill yourself...that sums it up well...one toke over the kine...ha, yes indeed....great write glynn...
ReplyDeleteIt was amazing to me, and still is because absolutely nothing has changed except to get worse, how every original artist, thought, song, face, was snapped up and commercialized and bastardized into something you could be if you could buy. Great take here, Glynn.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, saw that, you did nail it. Strange times, pop, op, rock 'n roll, gangsters, godfathers, dope, Vietnam, 3 assassinations, Roots on TV, the end of one era, the start of another, big cars, big hair, plastic, Mrs. Robinson, it's all about plastic.
ReplyDeleteGreat piece!
YOu definitely nailed it.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record -- I remember the 60s. I'm just not sure they remember me!
wow, man
ReplyDeletei totally dig it
like far out
don't freak out, man
this is a gas
just put on your threads
yeah, lookin' bad
now, let's get truckin'
Darn it, I had a Nehru Jacket. I also had a Ben Casey shirt (though you didn't mention that.) I wish I had saved these things now. They were pretty cool. Your poem brought back GOOD memories.
ReplyDeleteI am kind of mesmerized by that time. I wish I could just watch it all in real time to see how it was. This was wonderfully done, Glynn.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting study. Really enjoyed this. Been discovering some great music the more I research. Excellent poem. Super enoyed it.
ReplyDeletehttp://henryclemmons.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/pop-art/
such lyrical beauty in your words, perfect to the time. ~ Rose
ReplyDeleteMarvelous take on the prompt that has the feel of Pop in the poem (I went that direction too though with the Japanese extension of Pop, Superflat). I wasn't alive in the 60s but my parents sure embraced it (a little more folk, Judy Collins and survivalist but still echoes of their 60s experience in my childhood). Thank you.
ReplyDelete"If you remember the 60s
ReplyDeletebaby
then you weren’t there"
it's very true, because I remember them, but I was in grade-school, so what did I really experience. I've always felt that way.
Sweet piece, Glynn!
ReplyDeleteYou recreate it perfectly with all the affected 'reality'.
ReplyDeleteHilarious poem and in retrospect laughing at so much bullshit happening at those happenings.Loved the reference to the different ways you could kill yourself...which of course made you a really cool interesting person...still smiling..loved the bite in this one.
ReplyDeletebeautiful.
ReplyDeletelove how one takes the theme so uniquely and impress the audience with great inspirations.
well that was rewind of things past.. i enjoyed the recollection of the pschedelic art and pop culture.
ReplyDeletelike those last lines.. just not there baby...
I is a society within itself.
ReplyDeletequite a ride here...love the lines "if you remember the 60's then you weren't there..."
ReplyDeleteWhat a great evocation! Brings back (some) memories...
ReplyDeleteBrings it all back, and I was a kid for most of it (but I remember the deaths of King and Bobby K, and "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"), all the stuff that spilled over into the next decade.
ReplyDeleteWonderful images; powerful words. Thank you.