I’m participating in Laura Shovan‘s February Poetry Challenge this year. I always look forward to this month with its creative prompts and the sharing of poems (even when I fall behind on the daily quota.) This year the theme is “Time”. The prompts, as always, have been rich and varied, and the responses even more so. It’s an ongoing education.
My favorite experience is when the alchemy of prompt and poetry takes me in an unexpected direction. One day last week, I had a restless night and was up at 3 am. I checked out the prompt and Matthew Winner had shared a link to “Hazy Shade of Winter” by the Bangles.
After listening to it, I forgot to hit pause and the next song started playing: “Our Lips are Sealed” by the GoGos.
Somehow the combination of the two songs struck me and a poem happened.
Nothing Weighty About Me
Call me shallow if you must
but I prefer the next song
the bouncy bubble-gum beat
of the GoGos
singing“Our Lips Are Sealed”
to this one
with its eerie overtones
driving beat and
threads of warning.
See what’s become of me?
Word on the street says
it’s a hot song anyway
Paul Simon’s work
encircled with bangles
But a touch of sparkle
can’t conceal its dark roots
any more than a bottle of bleach
can turn back time.
See what’s become of me?
But pass the Clairol
and a helping of cotton candy, Baby.
I’m all for light and fluffy
a fan of the sweet stuff.
Why ponder browning leaves
gritty patches of snow
and impending winter
when I can rise above it all
cruise through summer days
with my lithe and limber friends
on top of the world
forever young
singing in the wind.
See what’s become of me?
©Molly Hogan, draft
This week’s Poetry Friday post is hosted by Linda Baie at her blog, TeacherDance.
Nix the comfort zone 
I love it when poets in the project post their poems on their own blogs because it’s so hard to keep track on Facebook. I love seeing this poem here in all its fluffy, cotton candy glory. Love the use of a refrain. You are not even close to shallow in the way you wove these two songs together.
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It is hard to keep track. I can’t possibly read everything and there are often late additions. I try to go back and dip into past posts periodically and that can be fun. I had a fun time writing this one and am glad you enjoyed it!
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I agree with Margaret. I gave this poem another read here and I’m even more in love with the braiding of these two song moods with your preference for light and fluffy. Great words too, Molly. “pass the Clairol and can’t hide the dark roots” Ha! Funny but also direct to the heart of the poet’s message. Wonderful poem.
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Thanks, Linda. It’s fun when poems take you in unexpected directions.
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I loved this, Molly, and that you used that repeated line, “See what’s become of me?” still seems like one we all secretly ask ourselves. But the cotton candy and Clarol stayed in a certain place in time for those who understand. All super fun!
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I wondered if the Clairol reference might be too obscure for a modern reader. I’m glad you felt it evoked the place in time.
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Paul Simon and Clairol – nice! This took me back a few years, but at the same time addresses the present and and the future. Love the refrain between each stanza.
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That line was taken directly from the first song, Rose. I debated whether or not to have it at the end…
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Molly, I agree that it is fun to read through poems one more time at a poet’s blog. The addition of the videos back to back is a great touch. Off to remember how much I love cotton candy and hair color.
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It was funny how the songs followed each other and then just collaborated in my mind. I used to adore cotton candy but I suspect it’s glories are lost on my now. lol
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It’s my experience too, that the poems I least expect turn out to be the strongest. They avoid contrivance, emotional tidiness, storytelling, and instead come over as, simply, truth. Which is interesting here, as Margaret says, because you are NOT all bubblegum and bleach.
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Sometimes when I write, an unexpected voice or perspective emerges. There are times when my husband has asked me to please make it clear that certain darker poems don’t arise from my own experiences. lol
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I love the idea of using music as a prompt for poetry; lyrics and melody become lodged in our beings and seem to transcend time, transporting us back to those moments, so many agos… and catapulting us back to “see what’s become of me”. Love your thought!
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Thanks! Music certainly does transcend time and can elicit a rush of memories and feelings.
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I love this, Molly! I prefer the beat & head bopping Go-Go Girls, also. I was dancing in my seat! I love your refrain, too, but cotton candy was too sweet for me. I’ll take a caramel apple, though. I especially love these last lines, “cruise through summer days
with my lithe and limber friends
on top of the world
forever young
singing in the wind.” These lines bring back to HS and college. I loved the band Heart with Ann and Nancy Wilson and Fleetwood Mac. Then, later Wilson Phillips and Madonna. This was fun! Thank you, Molly for sharing your poem, inspiration, and bring back fun girl memories! 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed a trip down memory lane, and thanks for sharing your soundtrack. 🙂
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This is terrific! Yes, let’s cruise through summer days!
Writing from summer in South America,
Ruth
(thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com)
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I’m certainly looking forward to some summer days!
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I’m still in love with this…and the Gogos!
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The GoGos are definitely a mood lifter 🙂
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