Thursday, January 30, 2014

And now for something completely different

I have been sent some links to poetry centered around Elmhurst. Here is a sample from [the light at van horn] by Matthew Kremer:

anyway i should say
that a minute or so ago
i observed a sedan creeping
to the light at van horn
in a manner that was odd.
he did not speed to the light
but rather seemed to decelerate
from a considerable distance.
what is strange about this
is that most cars in this town
have this habit of racing
to red lights as if their speed
is going to have some effect
on the duration of the interval.
i observe these things quietly.
here was a man who had perhaps
perused the AAA literature
about how slow accelerations
and decelerations are actually
easier on one's gas mileage.
and having not so nice of a car
he was exercising prudence and
frugality instead of needless haste.
that was my theory at least
for the forty-five seconds
i thought about it.
perhaps i have been reading
too much francis hutchinson.
i admired him and felt the need
to reach out in appreciation
for his moderation, i admit.
but then the thought came
that this was entirely dissimilar
to my car-driving days.
likely the case was that
having seen the light he elected
to decelerate as a means of checking
his smartphone or something.
this disappointed me.

3 comments:

georgetheatheist said...

Hardly a driver / Is now alive / Who passed / On hills / At 75 / Burma-Shave

Past / Schoolhouses / Take it slow / Let the little / Shavers grow / Burma-Shave

If you dislike / Big traffic fines / Slow down / Till you / Can read these signs / Burma-Shave

Don't take / a curve / at 60 per. / We hate to lose / a customer / Burma-Shave

Anonymous said...

Thank you Burna-Shave.

georgetheatheist said...

Hello Ben / A stroke of the pen / separates 'em / -the en from the em / GtheA