Author: John B. Lee

Publisher:

Published: 2013-11-01

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 9781927725085

The release of "Window Fishing: The night we caught Beatlemania," just in time to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, Sunday, February 9th, 1964, is an important cultural event, in that it encapsulates a significant historical period with its impact upon the sensibilities of a number of writers from around the world for whom the Beatles were a major inspiration. The British band, banned in Cuba, China and the Soviet Union, managed to sing beyond those walls and capture the imagination of young people growing up in repressive regimes. American poet Robert Sward writes Doesn t think he knows anything for sure only Ed Sullivan and the Beatles, Canadian poet Betsy Struthers confirms the spontaneous orgasm of screaming girls in her autobiographical account of her attendance at a Beatle concert in Toronto When it s over, we slump in our seats as others shuffle past, limp, spent. Sis s face a mask of streaked mascara, smudged lipstick. She s panting softly now, eyes closed, hands folded on her breasts as if in prayer. My shift plastered to my spine, thighs gummed together, parched throat. Ears tingle in the aftermath. The scream that fades into this little death. With record sales of over two billion to date, the Beatles remain a cultural phenomenon without parallel. What began in England in 1961, spread throughout North America in 1964, and continues to inspire writers from all over the world lives on in the work of fifteen-year old Korean poet, Paul Jeong who writes, Imagine silence/after the fall/total quiet/where eyes are opened/amid awakening. In this poem he equates the falling of rain all over the planet with the impact of the Beatles on the awakening consciousness of people all over the world. John B. Lee, Canada s premier anthologist, brings together several generations of writers, from China, Russia, Korea, United States, and Canada, in celebration of the movement that struck a spark in the imagination of people all over the world. For his part he puts it this way in his own poem, Encountering Fame, a poem concerning a brief interaction with Paul McCartney, and my heart pounded/like a child trapped in a trunk/marked 1964 . David McGimpsey in his hilarious poem writes, Maybe it s just me. I ve seen people singing classic Beatles songs from Hey, Moon Cat! to Love Is So Lovely - and they all seemed perfectly happy to me.