With a different year in mind goes Darren Hayes’s song, a year I wasn’t even born. But in 1999, I was, and let me dive back into this year, the one that followed the year the best music was released (according to me). Let me recall the musical times I had back then.
(This poem was prompted by dVerse Poets Pub – thanks to Shawna.)
Stained with bubble gum landscapes
tying friends together like dolphins on a chain
we carried on dancing like we had nothing else but
the same music over and under and in
side by side
hand on hand
studying hyperballad phonetics
under our newly coffee-stained breath
stained
was our word full of promises
I could never blow balloons but I tried hard I swear
I sweat
at the thought of pink sticky matter exploding on me
and keeping me from understanding
Koi
Eifersucht
Karma
from holding back the years
yet
« What kind of monster would I be able to release? »
I rushed as music found a circular space
in our already hardened mind.
Hiroshimem 
nice…excellent opening stanza…love the bubble gum through out speaking to younger times….music played a bit role in my life…and so i get that…funny how many of us have incorporated it today…love your close too…really nice response…
Thank you! Was music more important back then? Hmmm…
i dunno its still pretty important to my life honestly…love my music…and thank you for adding your voice to dverse this year…looking forward to the next….
like we had nothing else but the music… for me it really was a time when music was the big and powerful force and we were spelling their message with our bodies… then we get older..and maybe more « civilized ».. still i never stopped playing…and i’m thankful…the hardening minds made me swallow…think we need to be careful..a great poem
You’re right, music was sooo important. I identified so much with the bands I liked, something I don’t do so much anymore.
I like your phrase, « spelling their message with our bodies »… Thank you.
Loved the opening, especially « tying friends together like dolphins on a chain »
« hyperballad phonetics » … Ha! So creative. 🙂
I liked the alliteration and repetition of « I swear I sweat » together.
Nothing should keep you from understanding karma, etc. I hate that the universe seems determined to prevent our understanding, enlightenment, and growth by keeping us busy, distracted, and frustrated.
Your closing is fantastic:
« I rushed as music found a circular space
in our already hardened mind. »
Thank you so much. I didn’t coin the word .hyperballad. though, Björk did 😉
Music definitely defines the times….. it is so often, with any year, the MUSIC that remember. I enjoyed your write.
It’s also interesting that many poets in today’s pub talked about music somehow. Thank you!
Music is part of our growing up…It triggers a memory or lifetime then. I specially like your opening verse…very nice ~
How true! I like how music triggers a positive nostalgia. Thank you!
Such an interesting comparison between the people and the bubble gum, and then the pop music in the background. A lot of fun, though a winsome sort of poem. K.
Thank you! Today let’s sparkle and pop!
Ha! Yes. It is a beautiful day where I am. K.
Music is so important. I can’t imagine a life without it. This made me think about the times when I was just discovering music for myself- finding new genres- I was so passionate about it- like it was reflecting me ( I guess that’s why we like the things we do right?). I loved the picture you painted about friendship and bubblegum (pop?)- but I also senses that things were changing- and that ad you were discovering more and more- that sadly your friendships might not be quite the same- but such is the way of the world! This was delicate, thoughtful and cleverly constructed
Thank you so much! I could say the same – discovering new things has always had that exciting twist to it – like, « Am I gonna find more of myself in this? »
Yes, things changed, as is usually the case… but for good!
Love the fit of images here – not mentioning the music per se, but letting the genres act like a jump rope that winds through your legs and the times. It seems so balloon bright and floating. I wonder if i ever felt quite that primary colored bright. This makes me happy though.
Thank you so much! I don’t remember being often happy like that when I was a teen, but there were indeed a lot of times when things were easy and natural… bright pink.
I like your take on the year. I still have a soundtrack to my life. I think music is just that important in our lives. Thank you for your visit and comment.
A fun trip back in time that left me craving bubble gum. Fortunately I keep that in my car where unfortunately the radio mostly plays the news. As a composer this winnowed its way into my heart. Very nicely done!
Wow, thank you so much! I’d fancy some bubble gum as well, now that I think of it 🙂
I like the stained bubble gum landscapes ~ Still good on second reading ~
Thanks! A second reading is always appreciated too.
I looked up Eifersucht and came across Rammstein, a band I had not heard of much. Your poem gets into that frame of mind where music defines who and what we are; that exuberance and innocence where the world IS music comes thru so clearly, wildly alive with possibility both of what might happen in it, but also those possibilities that we our selves can become.
Rammstein definitely is a band that altered my self as a teen. Yeah, those times were, for me, just about music and friendship (maybe clothes, but they were made for showing my musical tastes, somehow). I guess becoming one with the world has always be a goal of mine, and at that time I could only achieve it through listening to music that could reach my heart. Music as a gateway to enlightenment, then (I am still just on the threshold :))