X 59

I fall asleep in the X59 bus to Edinburgh and dream that i'm in Desert Island discs

X59

 

(Desert Island Discs  - a favourite British radio program hosted for many years by Roy Plumley where celebrity guests can pick their favourite music)

 

Road noise rumbling, rumbling

Passengers mumbling mumbling

swish of wipers, splash of spray

Soporific push, shove and sway,

push, shove and ….

 

Confined, seat belted

Head slumped,

MP3’d, headphoned, 

sweet rhythms to my ears

disconnecting, drifting

into that soft shoulder,

between the A92 and musical heaven

that familiar plumy voice beckons,

welcome Alan to ‘desert X59land discs’,

and your first choice is?

 

Childrens favourites

from the murky past

A treat, eagerly awaited

My young breath bated

TV flicker, years away

The Deadwood stage

There once was an ugly doggie

How much is that duckling in the window

Well - it was a long time ago!

 

My next choice gave me ‘Good Vibrations’

Just starting to pick up on teenage sensations

the Beach Boys brought in a new kind of sound

That theramin warble did its best to confound

 

Next, Miles Davis with ‘Kind of Blue’

cool, hip, iconic

takes Jazz in a new direction

chords are gone, modes are in

utterly brilliant

 

Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’

The audience rioted at the Paris premier

A century on the Rite still shocks

With its shifting rhythms

crashing climaxes, mesmeric melodies

 

Archie Shepp’s tenor sax

Explodes, rollercoasts

In endless breakneck cacophony

Until my brain screams,

‘what the f***’

Then segues seamlessly into the melodic bliss

Of ‘In a sentimental mood’

 

Omar Sosa, clad in white

A Cuban wizard, conjures magic

from his three keyboards

Crossing musical boundaries with ease,

world music, afro-cuban, jazz

With Paulo on trumpet

poetry sizzles between them   

 

The Wayne Shorter Quartet

Jazz doesn’t get much better

This is no easy listening

But a magical mystery tour

Into the uncharted territory

Of virtuosic improvisation

 

You have one luxury Alan

Easy! My dad’s old alto sax, a 1932 Conn

I’ll learn to play by ear

 

You’ve one book,

Easy! An X59 timetable

 

It’s your last choice now.

‘We’ve kids, don’t things move on

Or maybe back, to children’s songs

‘The wheels on the bus go round

And round and round and …’

A nudge, ‘what .. what!’

‘Waken up, ‘we’re at the bus station.’

Oh! Thanks Roy!

Reviews

[hi]

ha yeah i think you told the story of people riding in a car,falling asleep while listening to music,
love how it ended to,this poem makes me think that somewhere right now someone is doing this and the visual i got from reading this was good

[alanwgraham]

Thanks, It comes from falling asleep in a bus (see note in heading). I resisted the temptation of using music that everyone would know and used my personal choice.
Alan

[Matching Socks]

Ha! Fun read! That sounds like a great program btw!
Now I have that 'life is but a dream sweet heart' sha-boom song in my head.

[alanwgraham]

Thanks Ana. It's fun deciding on your favourite music.
Regards,
Alan

[C. M. Miller]

Ya' got me at Miles Davis, after that it was a fun google search to figure it all out! Edinburgh - St. Andrews! And here I thought it was some part of an obscure physics equation! Good on you, poet! Just one question, who da'hell is Roy?

[alanwgraham]

Thanks C. It was just meant to be a bit of fun. Roy is Roy Plumley the (deceased) host of desert island Discs (plumy voice!) - I did mention below the heading! You should have gone to You tube and I wish I could have put a clip of each as background! I did realise that most of these were not mainstream but I stuck with what my choices would have been. I look forward to checking your own stuff.
Thanks again, Alan

[C. M. Miller]

Aye, I do believer I skipped over that brief intro and went right to the poem! Some reviewer I am.

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

What a delightful dream and fantastic delivery well done good read

[alanwgraham]

Thanks Thomas. That is very kind of you. Its good fun coming up with your own favourite music - I would have like to attach short audio clips to each.
I'll check out your own work.
Regards, Alan