AN ANNIVERSARY

Yesterday was the fifty-fifth anniversary of The Beatles first appearance on The Ed Sullivan show. Many of my friends weren't born then, others reminisce about being little kids watching it with their families or having fathers who objected to the fab four's appearance and/or music. I was in the military at that time, stationed outside of Spokane, Washington. Here are a few unpublished sonnets about that night and era from a series called THE SPOKANE SONNETS:

4

The USO advertised TONIGHT THE BEATLES

ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. Up a flight of

stairs was a large TV in a big open room full of

white teenage girls vibrating with anticipation.

Waiting for the show, I slow danced with one

to a 45. An old lady rushed over with a ruler to

ensure the space between our bodies was at least

six inches. About to split, a young cat with a

hound dog face walked up to me and said You’re

a musician. I nodded. Jazz. I nodded again. He

was Jimmy Dunaway, nineteen, a drummer air-

man from the base. With his tightly curled hair,

skin darker than my Irish parchment, and thicker
lips, I guessed he had some African ancestry.

5

If Jimmy had Negro blood he didn’t know it.

He talked like a typical Southern good ol’ boy

sentimental about the Civil War and the Old

South his daddy told him all about. After Ed

Sullivan, a triumph for The Beatles but to us

just pre-adolescent girl stuff, though secretly

impressed, we bar hopped till I found a spade

joint, by then so skunky drunk when we got

angry looks I climbed up on the bar and did

some rhymes, what older black folks called

toasting: I might be too thin to win but I ain’t

too light to fight or too lean to be mean. An

old ploy to distract people till it was too late

to battle and I was accepted as a crazy Paddy.

6

I formed a jazz trio with Jimmy and another cat

from the base, a short black dude people called

Rabbi cause he always wore a long dark raincoat

when not in uniform, even on the bandstand.

Sometimes Rabbi didn’t show so Jimmy and me

played as a duo. One early AM after a gig while

eating breakfast at DENNY’S we were ambushed

by a voluptuous blonde with sparkling blue eyes.

I flirted till she invited me back to her place. As

we undressed in the dark I realized there was

someone else in her bed. When I hesitated she

said Haven’t you ever made love to a woman in

front of her husband before? I lied and said Sure

all the time. Her name was Sandy, his was Billy.

Copyright 2019 Michael Lally