Sunday, September 2, 2012

CITY LIGHTS



on a hot summer night in North Beach
where street cars dance with gypsies
to the beat of jazz notes blown
with Kerouac and other misfits
dreaming towards another stream of consciousness
baked on heat and apple pie
approaching poems with reckless abandon
reading hot salvages with blemished eyes
puzzled by the shadows of the dancers
and their confident movements of nothingness
with relentless expressions of beauty
wondering what dream brought me to this place
beat poets at City Lights

19 comments:

Ritva said...

How wonderfully you painted the atmosphere. Loved every word.

kaykuala said...

Yes, we often wonder how (after having gone through the works that) we had arrived at a particular crossroad. We then try to make out what really happened! Nice write Wayne!

Hank

Brian Miller said...

nice..you def have the beat wayne...how we got here...well...reckless abandon is as good a way as any

Grace said...

I do like approaching poems with reckless abandon ~ Nice one ~

Helen said...

... where I want to be.

Berowne said...

The sixties in S F?

Ginny Brannan said...

"...where street cars dance with gypsies
to the beat of jazz notes blown..."

Your words capture time, place, atmosphere in a way that puts us there. Well done!

hjdbedfb said...

Wow :) Just discovered your poetry and I love it! :D

Unspoken said...

where streetcars dance with gypsies

I want to be there!

Laurie Kolp said...

puzzled by the shadows of the dancers
and their confident movements of nothingness
with relentless expressions of beauty


... this is something I think only we poets can understand. Lovely puece, Wayne.

Dick Jones said...

Great memories of the Beats, who excited me so much in my teens! (And still).

robkistner said...

I am still a tormented soul, forever on the road, howling for my bliss, clinging to my sense of wonder, holding out hope for peace & love -- oh to have been here on the left coast in the peak time of City Lights, and to ride that big beat forward all the way to Haight and Ashbury... but I was "hay fevered" in the midwest wrestling with my angst... Wonderful write Wayne, very cool for sharing it man, very cool...

...rob

jabblog said...

I recognise the feeling, the puzzlement. I love 'relentless expressions of beauty' - so true of far too many.

Unknown said...

let the beat continue to play on ...fab very atmospheric ..thank you for sharing x

Silent Otto said...

Cool concept, Wayne, a crossroads in the web of consciousness where the beat poets are eternally stationed, hope i stumble through there one day, thanks

Lyn said...

What a movie this is...flash and pop and heat..North Beach opened up before my eyes...thank you!!

Unknown said...

What dream does bring you to this place? I'll be truckin' in with Tess and Lyn. I love your poem, Wayne. Thank you for sharing your work here.

Anonymous said...

Ah - just loved this! I live in New York but love City Lights Book store - and this has such a wonderful North Beach feel - ah Kerouac. k.

Tumblewords: said...

It sings the song. Wonderful!