Make A Living As A Poet: August 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Poetry in Motion Redeux

Danny Heitman's New York Times article from 8/16/09 ruminates on Marianne Moore's flirtation with the Auto Industry.

Here are a few examples we think poets might drive:

Billy Collins- 1941 red and white, Mitsubishi Lanyard, with Nine Horse engine.

Coleman Barks- 1937- Ford Whirler

Pablo Neruda- 1904- VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Trabant- Is there anything sadder in the world than a Trabant standing in the rain?

Marianne Moore- 1887- horse drawn Ford Fiddle, I too dislike it...

Langston Hughes- 1902- Deferrer, with exploding ejection seat

Death by Taxi

In New York you die in taxis.
A little yellow death.
The honking of crows.
Black puddles, putrid flapping.
Only there are no crows.
They must be pigeons, blacking up.
They honk convincingly and the traffic
begins to flow and breathe again.
You are in his arms. He is loving you alive.
You see the light. It’s a green light
For God’s sake try to make the light.
It’s flashing and the crow dogs are barking
in their little park runs.
Only there are no dogs.
They must be jackals in wiener dog coats.
Your death will make the news.
The paperboys are swooning,
“Extra! Extra!”
“You’ll never guess who died in a taxi!”
Stuck in traffic unable
to get to even the closest
Starbucks. Only there is no coffee.
It must be dead black water,
like an old Doobee Brothers song
surprising you on the radio.
But that’s not radio and the cabby
isn’t singing to you, he’s singing
to his cousin about the Knicks in Urdu.
He keeps shouting the chorus,
“Knick Knock, Knick Knock.”
He has no idea you are dead.
Now here’s the riddle:
do you tip when you’re dead?
You can’t take it-whatever!
Still it seems a little rude,
to keep driving
into the subway token sun,
slipping through its square hole,
while all your passengers
are rattling a hoarse mackerel breath
almost a whisper,
“Horse Head Nebula”
and step on it.

Make A Living As A Poet

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Poetry in Motion Redeux

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Death by Taxi