The Bonanza Coffee Bar Poem by Elia Michael

Back in the sixties we had a cafe
Perhaps it is better called a coffee-bar
Where the fashionable youth of the day
Met and talked of Lennon and Ringo Starr

Girls in those very short skirts called minis
And young lads in khaki fur-trimmed parkas
And young men dressed old-fashioned like Elvis
And sometimes even some Blues supporters

All came in our cafe called Bonanza
And the Wurlitzer would light up and spin
The very latest chart-busting wonder
Like Procol Harum or Led Zeppelin

I would serve them coffee from a machine
A Gaggia that was red and bright chrome
Hot water was forced through ground coffee bean
Into chic glass cups topped with milky foam

Sometimes cousins would come to visit us
It was especially nice to serve them
And sit and reminisce and make a fuss
of them whilst playing a black vinyl gem

Back in the sixties we had a cafe
Where youth would socialise and spend their pay
On fruit machines coffee and the jukebox
Wearing fab clothes sometimes even bright socks