Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

hippie can't be washed away
like sand between your toes...
1970 key west will stay as pristine,
as the teal water, the mango skies,
the night blooming jasmine, none of it
ever left the nostrils,the tactile mind

the sight of a ballyhoo dancing on his tail
is a subtropical miracle not unlike
saltwater-jesus walking across the gulf of mexico

mallory square is a painting of my life, steeped
in bronzed women in long cotton print dresses

dancing in bare feet while black dogs
frolicked in shallow water back-dropped
my sailing masts that split the sinking sun in two,
my long-haired physiology was altered,
the chemistry I was born with was laid
to rest with hemingway's six toed cats

gone in the antics of the midnight cowboy,
of jamie hurlihy and his gifted southern eyes
crow-footed and keen, as a bahamian sailor

the jalousie windows will always be open for me,
to catch an ocean breeze

thanx ming, a magical time in my life for sure...life altering profundity ....

Hey, Saw, I was last in Key West, Florida in 1956. So, I think I remember Hemingway
passing in and out of his mansion with his cats. Unless...Hemingway was already in Idaho. It was sad when he committed suicide like Hunter Thompson...
I missed the whole "hippie" era down there. There were "beatniks" there at that time.

I remember Greenwich Village, NYC at that time frame, both in 1968 & 1970...
Yes, I have a "tie-dyed heart", too. Welcome to the club...

Great response SP....glad I was around to experience the magic of perfect weather and gorgeous sunsets....and some longhairs that believed in peace....what a crazy concept

bravo!

I like this poem a lot, it's full of passion and music, and seems like it's the tip of a much longer series of poems about that time