Summer of Love
Sounds in the Haight
or Telegraph Ave,
were jazz licks, riffs
and laid-back improv.
Love was free,
and chicks were hot,
cats were cool,
but VD was not.
With flowers on ankles
also in hair,
the beautiful people
danced with feet bare.
The flaky, and far out
came for the jive;
man, take a toke, pass
a joint, light my fire.
There were gigs with Janice
and Grateful Dead,
each pad, a commune,
and dudes wore dreds.
Some would drop acid
others smoked hash
the grass in their bag
they bought with some cash.
Each got their kicks
while they were high,
stoned and ripped,
like, no longer shy.
But bro there is one thing
I want to know,
where did all of those
flower children go?
Lynn M. Hansen, a retired Modesto Junior College professor of marine biology, is a member of the Ina Coolbrith Circle, a charter member of the Modesto Stanislaus Poetry Center and past president of National League of American Pen Women, Modesto Branch. Her work reflects her sense of place and the art of story-telling. She enjoys gardening with native plants, photography, cooking and writing. Her published work includes Flicker, Poems by Lynn M. Hansen by Quercus Review Press (2013), Journey to Sky Avenue: The Life of Mernie Daisy Lewis (1882-1963) a self-published historical novel (2022), In the Presence of the Moai: Poems and Prose of Travel. Pen Women Press (2023). She has two Pushcart Nominations.
Sounds in the Haight
or Telegraph Ave,
were jazz licks, riffs
and laid-back improv.
Love was free,
and chicks were hot,
cats were cool,
but VD was not.
With flowers on ankles
also in hair,
the beautiful people
danced with feet bare.
The flaky, and far out
came for the jive;
man, take a toke, pass
a joint, light my fire.
There were gigs with Janice
and Grateful Dead,
each pad, a commune,
and dudes wore dreds.
Some would drop acid
others smoked hash
the grass in their bag
they bought with some cash.
Each got their kicks
while they were high,
stoned and ripped,
like, no longer shy.
But bro there is one thing
I want to know,
where did all of those
flower children go?
Lynn M. Hansen, a retired Modesto Junior College professor of marine biology, is a member of the Ina Coolbrith Circle, a charter member of the Modesto Stanislaus Poetry Center and past president of National League of American Pen Women, Modesto Branch. Her work reflects her sense of place and the art of story-telling. She enjoys gardening with native plants, photography, cooking and writing. Her published work includes Flicker, Poems by Lynn M. Hansen by Quercus Review Press (2013), Journey to Sky Avenue: The Life of Mernie Daisy Lewis (1882-1963) a self-published historical novel (2022), In the Presence of the Moai: Poems and Prose of Travel. Pen Women Press (2023). She has two Pushcart Nominations.