Poet on Holiday

Poet on Holiday

 

 

 

i wish i lived in Haight Ashbury

during the sixties

and could have sold my poems 

on a street corner

for a nickel a piece

 

Peace junkies might have 

paid for a fix

my words a diluted drug

but charming in masquerade

my street corner

 

my chapbook stand

two for seven cents

three for a dime sans 

cover,

the white pages with black markings

 

that look a lot like letters

inducing a rhyme

but little reason

shoot up a few haiku

you won't get too high

 

or take a bad trip past City Lights Books

i could never count

so 19 syllables will have to suffice

i'm the Beat poet with ice

in the veins of his pen

 

being run off the premises

for having no permit

to express

just simple savoir faire

"Stop the damn war"

 

"Stop hate, stamp it out

with soft sounding syllables

and wretched punctuation

 

who cares the editing is rash

no time,

have to sell the banding together of hearts

with verse pounding the pavement

of dreams,

 

that just have to be realized

before they die

of starvation.

 

 

erin-cilberto

Reviews

[Patricia]

Very nostalgic, and actually sounds like fun selling poems, thoughts, talks with strangers, living the poetry, poetry in the moment. Love it

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Patricia,
j.

[Desert Knave]

So easy to visualize you selling a couple poems as Jerry Garcia is walking by. Have always wondered how awesome it would be to have been part of that particular place and time. Really a thought-inspiring write. Kudos. ~Jim

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Jim....those poets inspired my beginnings of doing this poetry thing.
j.

[duff]

What a time capsule Jacob. Your lines and imagery transport the reader back in time. I feel like i'm standing with you on that corner. This is awesome. Great work.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

great, we can sell our work together....
then have some lunch.
j.

[Kay Salisu Titilola]

Those days were so much full of opportunities according to how the narrator described it. History is also an evidence. Although, I was in the middle of nowhere in those days, I can feel the breeze of the past caressing my hungry soul. But nothing is ever too late, anything can still be done or changed. It might just be in different way.

Good one, Jacob.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I think I might have been in the same place you were, Kay...
I will visit your poems in a bit.
thank you,.

[Miss Sharon]

I remember those times well...some good, some not so much. Pretty much like today in many ways I think. Good write as always Jacob. ~Sharon

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, isn't it true? the more things change the more they stay the same...and we don't learn from past mistakes...we just do them again.
thank you, Sharon.
j.

[...Relic...]

After reading this I decided to read up on the beat poets and learned things I didn't know. I figured they were just guys who got together to share poems. I learned it was much more than that.

Great writing, J.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

they influenced me so much when I started writing...
I felt their poetry to my bones.
thank you, Tim,
j.

[redd Brick Keshner]

Heavy, dude. That was intense and lifting at the same time. Reminded me of Jerry Lewis in the Visit to the Small Planet Earth, performing Beat poetry; and Audrey Hepburn in Paris, forget the title of that flick. Those days are now etched in every persona that it has touched. Thanks for sharing.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Thank you for your kind review, Fredrick,
j.

[Earthrise]

As someone who never lived through the times you described, this poem doesn't strike me as a fond memory but as a fascinating dream. The idea of art as a grassroots movement, as a catalyst for change- you make it sound like it was so easy. I aspire to have the heart of your narrator.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Earthrise,
j.

[keith]

before that the words of SIX GALLERY and the beat generation ... BEATNIKS
Ginsberg Kerouac Cassady Ferlinghetti Williams Snyder ... DHARMA BUMS
San Francisco apex of 'people of change' that did much to educate the world
least not forget the GRATEFUL DEAD!
(my mothers younger brother was a poet/artist/advocate for peace/beatnik/hippie in Berkley ... i am still influenced by his memories and art)
got the emotions ignited with this one jacob

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Berkley was where it was happeing back in our day...
yes, cannot forget the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia.
thank you, keith,
j.

[Chris Shaw]

So many little snippets of memory here. A reminder of another time when war raged and so many wanted love and peace. Love these thoughts from an older poet reflecting on early writings and perhaps opportunities missed. Such a good read J.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you Chris, yes, an OLDER poet, for sure...:)))