waiting for comcast. writing poems.
I’ve been reading the poems in Elephant Rocks by Kay Ryan the new poet laureate of the US of A. They are consistently wonderful, not long yet chalk full of acute observations and elegant wordplay. Her rhyming is subtle and amazing and kind of reminds of really good rap in the way that the words twist around each other and go seamlessly from thought to thought. Below is my attempt at a Kay Ryan-esque poem. DO NOT take this as an example of what her poems are like as they are light years ahead of mine, although I rather liked this one.
A traffic light at the intersection
where Forest makes a run at Chestnut
headlights glare. lion’s eyes aglow in the dark
they stare.
They drool light like saliva and wait.
Two seconds to green
will the young gazelle make it in between
the crosswalk stretches wide and GO!
It seems that all those barelies matter, but they don’t.
Okay, so I’m driving into the city today. Most days I don’t but stuff happens and today I am. I’ve got the late Charles Mingus with me and he is going on and on about Mill Valley, musically speaking. Anyway, I’m sitting at a light in my Prius and this young woman sprints across the street just inches off my bumper.
At first, I think “wow, that’s strange”, but then I spot the radio collar. I’m wondering whether the personal injury attorneys have figured a new angle to improve business. Mingus is still going on about Mill Valley and is just no help.
When I get to my job as a copy writer at the fortune cookie factory, I’m set. “You cannot be too careful,” is the first of the day’s hundred.
I find this picture interesting but slightly disturbing.