03 January 2024

Music of Romance and Drama

 

          I owned two records when 60’s youth culture
changed life throughout the USA, but not in my home.
I listened to Scheherazade and West Side Story
over and over, drinking in the romance
and drama, looking for them in my own life.
 

 

          The early 70s longed for a transformation
of hate into love that Scheherazade conjured
through her cliff-hanging stories. But our fate
was the West Side Story of civil war made
unspeakably worse by weapons and interference.
 
          And I was ready.  O Tony and Maria!
You are our 20th century Romeo and Juliet!
I paused at the bedroom goodbye in the center
of the drama: goodbye to youth, innocence,
and confidants--leaving only desperation.
 

 

And protest.  70s free speech and war resistance
molded the romance in me in their "Ball of Confusion."
Classical and jazz turned to folk and rock.  The band
played on. And I moved from classroom to frontline
to bedroom where Leonard Cohen healed my soul.
 

 

          “Now it’s come to distances,” he sang,
“. . . it’s just “the way It changes, like
the shoreline and the sea.”  And we kissed
passionately and philosophically, embracing
our work and the temporariness of it all.

 

 Written for Sherry's prompt "THE MUSIC OF OUR YOUTH" at What's Goin On?


My blog poems are rough drafts.
Please respect my copyright.
© 2024 Susan L. Chast


10 comments:

  1. Sherry Blue Sky1/03/2024 3:21 PM

    What a wonderful journey, through some interesting times. Music accompanied us on our path, for sure. I loved reading of your musical journey. Love the idea of Tony and Maria being the modern Romeo and Juliet.

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  2. rch1/03/2024 3:36 PM

    Hi Susan, the lyrics back then were so much deeper and you could really get drawn in to the story, much like I did with your poem, great job.

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  3. Mary1/03/2024 4:04 PM

    Beautiful musical history (never thought about Tony and Maria as Romeo and Juliet), and it is only appropriate that you end your poetic history with Leonard Cohen, who is still my favorite singer of all and sybolizes for me the era when music was such an important expression of deep feelings!

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  4. Brother Ollie1/03/2024 5:10 PM

    I feel I missed my Cohen moment. I'll cycle back and listen to him.

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  5. Sumana Roy1/04/2024 1:24 AM

    Aww...This poem is music itself with its strength, power and sweetness and we get to see the world as it used to be. "And I moved from classroom to frontline / to bedroom where Leonard Cohen healed my soul." My favorite lines.

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  6. Anonymous1/04/2024 2:21 AM

    I love the reminiscence - strong words and music - Jae

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  7. Anonymous1/05/2024 1:00 AM

    A familiar musical journey for so many of us of a certain age (old! ) LOL...Rall

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  8. Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil1/05/2024 5:04 PM

    Well, I had WSS on vinyl, but was yours Broadway or the movie soundtrack? The link to Romeo and Juliet, yes - and I had that album, too, with Olivia Hussy and Leonard Whiting's scenes and "What is a Youth?" So you have totally rocked my world with this one, Susan. Amy

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  9. Anonymous1/07/2024 6:07 AM

    I still sing that Leonard Cohen song sometimes when I'm driving alone in my car. The protests of the 60s and 70s formed my political views too. Suzanne - Wayfaring - Wordpress blog

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