Ah, the 'low decadent decade' <br />when Sally Bowles invented black <br />stockings and poets thought Germany <br />shone with ideas worth thinking. <br /> <br />Swing was born - under a new moon; <br />an articulate child, sassy, <br />jazzy, slick and slim; America <br />on song, sashaying across dustbowls <br />and dancefloors, airwaves and sirens. <br /> <br />Spain disembowelled herself, <br />Italy lost her fashion-sense; <br />dressed in black, looked back to Caesars <br />and Popes; sought a new renaissance. <br /> <br />Swing spoke-easy - took note of naught <br />but taut lyrics and great, big-bands <br />all black and white, all rhythmic nights <br />of moving stars in Hollywood bars. <br /> <br />Always a swinger, the little <br />corporal batoned up and swung.<br /><br />James Mills<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/swingtime/
