Welcome to Linda Imbler!

I don't know what a contest of poems inspired by musicians born in the 1940s would be without a poem inspired by the Beatles.  I was very pleased to see Linda Imbler's poems.

Inspired by The Beatles “Baby, You Can Drive My Car”

Drive

She steered in the direction of the skid, 

straightened the wheel as she slid, 

having no time to end up in ditches

let’s truth travel through the relay switches. 

Years of mishandling truth, causing loss, 

a lack of control while she double-crossed, 

now her sinless, clean hands grip the wheel, 

truthful information highway holds appeal. 

There were long deceptive roads with no thoroughfare, 

no place to speed away from fraudulence anywhere, 

false treacherous roads made it easy to cheat, 

spinning her vicious lies up and down the street. 

She steers in the direction of the slide, 

makes straight when the truth swings wide, 

bad miles fall back, she drives toward the green light, 

exits the old, continues on the path of right. 

Inspired by The Beatles  “Here, There, and Everywhere”

Fab

Wurlitzer royalty,

the Four Horsemen of pop,

half a century later,

they're still at the top,

of songwriting skills 

and melody making,

strong beats, rough guitar riffs,

and ballads breathtaking.

Our world will be poorer,

when the last one moves on,

somewhere else will need them

to provide them with song.

That globe will then embrace,

the perfect square,

of musical integrity,

here, there, and everywhere.

Inspired by John Denver “Rocky Mountain High”

As I Saw Boulder

Those retro hipster streets, crowded with bohemian images,

abutting the mountains grand, recollecting peace and hippie love.

One New Age store replete with Occult books and Tarot cards 

intended to teach and to guide.

The street musicians’ chattering guitars play folk (Dylan, Baez, Mitchell)

or perhaps the acid rock (Hendrix, Cream, Doors) one era dug.

Another New Age store that sells incense, that spiritual return

to the time when the peace pipe filled the air with smells

of myrrh and burning grass.

Street dancers and magicians with magical movement

to keep the groove alive and remembered.

Inspired by The Browns “The Three Bells”

Bells Ringing

All around us,

Bells are ringing,

Heralding,

The new dawn to come.

Soldiers on all ships

Coming home,

More,

In flight returning,

War has been fought

And the end has been arbitrated.

This last war

Mankind, as a whole, now victorious

Deciding to celebrate freedom 

Across all lands.

Each person adjudicated

With all scores settled,

A covenant of peace 

To harmonize this sphere.

And those in crypts,

Though they be dead

Release the hopeful breath they have held 

For so very long and join the gleeful celebration.

    

Inspired by Led Zeppelin “The Immigrant Song”

Desert Song

The last true Viking

charges onto the stage

bearing his axe overhead

in defiance of those 

who call him a shadow.

Like poets pluck words from the ether,

so does he pull down the elementals

and weaves them among the strings

with seraphic fingers,

his alchemical magick 

amalgamating sounds.

Easy-

For he has long known the secret

of the lost chord.

He strikes it now

to shatter the rumble of the crowd.

Cool-

He makes himself visible on stage

and beats the Devil’s heat.

Given that Linda's "Drive" is from a woman's perspective, I thought I'd post The Mona Lisa Twins' cover of "Drive My Car":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKRle7mgadk

Emmylou Harris has also covered "Here, There, and Everywhere": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hMrRspL8oc and "For No One": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrKrYmjIPeI

The Zac Brown Band covered "Rocky Mountain High" recently:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WhgJei3cso

I've heard this song many times, but I never knew that it was The Browns' "Three Bells":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkbj56bnYs

Here is the Harp Twins' version of "The Immigrant Song":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lih7A9OS2Us

Enjoy!