Angelee Deodhar Enters the 1940s Contest...and The Best of the Net Nominees!

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When many of us think about musicians who were born in the 1940s, the first who come to mind are the Beatles...John, Paul, George, and Ringo.  Tonight I am posting Angelee Deodhar's haibun that evokes the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine."

 Ekphrastic Haibun: The School bus

chrysanthemum cuttings

not knowing which colours

will come up

Each morning when I watch yellow buses pick up children for school, this song by the Beatles Yellow Submarine comes to mind.

To me the school buses are all yellow submarines, like the one at the John Lennon Liverpool Airport, and soon our children will grow up and have children of their own, for whom they pack school lunches, make beds, arrange birthday parties, go to concerts ,attend fancy dress balls, watch them go to prom nights,go on dates, come home late, and they will sing…what we once sang.

in and out of

the tea ceremony-

a warbler’s song

Lyrics from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/yellowsubmarine.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Submarine_(sculpture)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:48states - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Liverpool-sub.jpg

Here is a long trailer for the movie Yellow Submarine:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefJAtG-ZKI

This evening I would also like to congratulate my nominees for the 2016/7 Best of the Net in poetry and prose.

The nominees for prose follow.  Each of them take us to intriguing places.  Let's go to Texas with Elizabeth Bruce and her "one-dollar" story, "Bald Tires."  I truly enjoyed Bill Cushing's entry into the non-driving contest "Learning Not to Drive."  It reminds me why I don't want to drive in Puerto Rico!  Ndaba Sibanda wraps up the category with "Friendly Wars," a story set in an African country.

Let's move onto poetry.  I am listing the six nominees in no particular order.  Tad Richards' "The Weather Channel" honors jazz musicians born in the 1930s: Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, and the memorable Lee Morgan.  Bea Garth's "Street Scene" earned a nomination to go with its  honorable mention in the non-driving contest.  Michael Lee Johnson, leader of several poetry groups on Facebook, was nominated for "Alberta Bound."  Philip Elliott's "Vulgar Machines" picked up a nomination to go with its share of the non-driving prize.  Amber Smithers earned a nomination for her outstanding "Bulimia Poem."  The list of nominees conclude with Leslie McKay and Benita Kape for their rengay "Rare Among Them."

It was difficult to choose nominees.  Several of the honorable mentions very nearly became nominees.   The honorable mentions include Joan Dobbie's "Dream Flying," A.J. Huffman's "Final Movement," Chani Zwibel's "Garden Secrets," Yoby Henthorn's "Anhedonia," Vera Drozdova's "I Will Drown, I Will Go Deaf,," Daniel Snethen's haiku,  Sergio Ortiz's "Walking in the Limbo of Words" & "With No Punctuation," and Catfish McDaris' "Bob Dylan is Dead, Or Rage Into The Night, Mr. Jones."  

Enjoy these poems, and enjoy the music below.

Let's start with a hot Texas jazz band, the Alphonso Trent Orchestra from 1928.  The song "Louder and Funnier" will make you feel that it is Saturday night!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW2ajzrwIJw

Live from Fajardo, Puerto Rico is Enjambre D Jazz's version of "Morning":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jZHouxkoeQ  It does not go with Bill Cushing's piece about driving in Puerto Rico!

Victor Kunonga is a young-ish jazz musician from Zimbabwe:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB_buYM7pyY

Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, and Lee Morgan are represented on "Speak Low" from 1958:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AvWEoL7TB0

Here is Billy Childs' version of Laura Nyro's "Upstairs By a Chinese Lamp":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzPQatneXRo  Wayne Shorter is featured on this song.

I'm also including his version of "Stoned Soul Picnic" with Ledisi on vocals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7TnTf8Co-4

I'll finish with John and Alice Coltrane's version of "Living Space" from their album Infinity:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3jaJDr8zKA

Congratulations to all of the nominees and the honorable mentions!