The 60s revisited

These two poems are very much of the sixties. Not surprising as that’s when I wrote them! 

You might think that my poem “A Light for Eleanor”  was influenced by the Beatles’ song, Eleanor Rigby. In fact, I wrote it long before the Beatles’ song was ever published.

Although Eleanor was written in the 60s, the kind of shallow person it describes could just as well be someone from today. 

A light for Eleanor

Eleanor shines like the moon on water

of a sky lit night

and rainbows in a pool

She moves like a nightmare

feeling her way through the people

and the days of their nights

Eleanor the party giver

reclines on the sofa

rings on her fingers

and round her eyes

Eleanor talks like typewriter keys

and all the men listen

their eyes and hands wandering

Eleanor, conventionally different,

conforming but not knowing.

In the murky light of morning

eyes take a long time to open

Hands reach out to touch

the wrinkled mattress

of yesterday’s hopes

Aftermath of an elegant evening

Eleanor wakes

to the ash of her life

on the floor.

 

Naomi

Who hears Naomi crying in the night?

Only the stars

There’s a passing plane

full of people

going to some suntanned beach

And Naomi turns to the pillow

She cries for yesterday

and the moon shines in

at her window

As the people on the plane

are served with Martinis

by sour faced girls

with sleep in their eyes

Naomi clasps the cover

in her dreams

The people on the plane

fasten their safety belts

Naomi sleeps

The stars have gone

 

 © Andrea Neidle, My Life in Poems

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