HUMMER

.
used to be a hummer
he'd hum there all day long
whilst riding on an edge
his hum became a song
.
when he was a bummer
people'd gasp at his silly width
he never really parked
belonged-
or even fit!
.
as hummer disguised as zinger
he was on all accounts a winner,
folks made their way
in expectance of
dead-ringer!
.
little did they know
about the secret deal
why somewhere in his song
hummer'd lost a wheel
.
or how he still felt it...
.
recalling road rage violence,
hallucinating junk yards
and conveyor-belt car-washes;
.
he topped up his tank,
his engine purred,
he looked at his sad gash,
alone...
.
up and out on the open road
hummer rocked and rolled,
drove like he had a boy's soul
so, he didn't feel that old
.
he mapped out all his routes
revisited side streets
t'was high time t'find tyre
the keeper of his beats
.
with every single toll paid,
hummer sought his spinner
there where they'd been way-laid
at grid's end,
on his edge
.
.

tonight romanticize the automobile

.
and
we kiss alone in a parked car,
at least i think so,
there's a flashlight waving out somewhere
you can see it down the road
and the saddest part
is that we mean so well
don't want to hurt nothing
don't want to hurt
this fragile love we know
because there's nothing left to hold
and we prayed that night
and you said to me
"don't you worry baby
the worst has come and the worst will go
and there's nothing we don't know"
i'll believe you then
but you know me and i
i always think the worst
so be satisfied
and it's hard but i'll try

to not romanticize the automobile

so come with me then
by the lakeside
smell the death there
where a plane did fall
and a boat sunk too
you'll be terrified to know
that i fantasize
about a way to die
nothing glorified
someone falls asleep
on a late night road
like a mercy for us both
i'll believe you then
but you know me and i
i always think the worst
and it's hard but i'll try

to not romanticize the automobile
.
.
by hawksley workman
.

IN MOTION

.
fugue
.
you see them vanish in their speeding cars,
the many people hastening through the world,
and wonder what they would have done before
this time of time speed distance, random streams
of molecules hastened by what rising heat?
was there never a world where people just sat still?
.
yet they might be all of them contemplatives
of a timeless now, drivers and passengers
in the moving cars all facing to the front
which is the future, which is destiny,
which is desire and desire's end -
what are they doing but just sitting still?
.
and still at speed they fly away, as still
as the road paid out beneath them as it flows
moment by moment into the mirrored past;
they spread in their wake the parading fields of food,
the windowless works where who is making what,
the grey towns where the wishes and the fears are done.
(by howard nemerov)
.
.
like trains of cars on tracks of plush
.
like trains of cars on tracks of plush
i hear the level bee --
a jar across the flowers goes
their velvet masonry --
.
withstands until the sweet assault
their chivalry consumes --
while he, victorious tilts away
to vanquish other blooms.
(by emily dickinson)
.
.
jump cabling
.
when our cars touched
when you lifted the hood of mine
to see the intimate workings underneath,
when we were bound together
by a pulse of pure energy,
when my car like the princess
in the tale woke with a start,
i thought why not ride the rest of the way together.
(by linda pastan)
.
.
sonnet IV
.
up at his attic sill the south wind came
and days of sun and storm but never peace.
along the town's tumultuous arteries
he heard the heart-throbs of a sentient frame:
each night the whistles in the bay, the same
whirl of incessant wheels and clanging cars:
for smoke that half obscured, the circling stars
burnt like his youth with but a sickly flame.
up to his attic came the city cries --
the throes with which her iron sinews heave --
and yet forever behind prison doors
welled in his heart and trembled in his eyes
the light that hangs on desert hills at eve
and tints the sea on solitary shores. . .
(by alan seeger)
.
.

THE WHEEL

.
a mother awoke her son and said, go down and hurt your father.
can't i do it tomorrow? i was just having a dream in which i was revenging myself against you, he said.
you can dream tomorrow, the mother said.
so the son went down and tied a wagon wheel to his father's neck.
i am not a vehicle, get this dirty thing off me, said the father, for as you see i am writing a history of your mother.
the son yawned and went upstairs again.
he heard his father below: get this wheel away from me quickly, as his father crawled with the wheel dragging from his neck. he heard his father scream: i do not want to write the history of the wheel...get this wheel away from me or i shall not be responsible for its safety.
help help help, i cannot get away from a wheel. a wheel drives me crazy. a wheel has spokes which ray out of the hub to the rim.
help, i am beginning to fall in love with a wheel- i court a wheel because a wheel is to be courted- i marry a wheel- we live happily ever after.
help help, i cannot get away from a wheel.
the son heard his father sighing: i am set out with a wheel. i go down the road with a wheel. i do not ride a wheel, i drag it because it will not stand up, as it is enraptured with me as my wife is not; that it clings to my neck as i crawl through the dust of the road.
.
russell edson in 'the very thing that happens'
.
.

coupe coup

.
(four tyres and a spare)
.
FREE TO GO
.
catching butterflies, line drives, watching tv
i had seven good years till i noticed they were looking at me
i didn’t like what they’d see
.
trapped in the back seat, stay on your side
my hand out the window feeling the wind rush by, while my parents fight
.
where did you go? did i make you leave?
another thing i didn’t know, nobody ever believes,
they just leave, they just leave
and they see you in their own sweet time
they just leave
.
i didn’t leave my room till i learned how to drive
i was sweet seventeen, fighting in the back of my mind
till the wheel was all mine
.
free to go, but still too young to leave
old enough to think i know
that nobody ever believes, they just leave, they just leave
.
my plane landed, i’m alive
i’m not fighting with the things
i never thought i’d do to survive
i finally arrived
.
now i know, more than i’ve ever believed
you could never let me know
you were just as young as me
you had to leave, you had to leave
you were just as young as me
you had to leave, you had to leave
you were just as young as me
.
by the folk implosion
.
.
.
FAST CAR
.
you got a fast car
i want a ticket to anywhere
maybe we make a deal
maybe together we can get somewhere
.
anyplace is better
starting from zero got nothing to lose
maybe we'll make something
me myself i got nothing to prove
.
you got a fast car
i got a plan to get us out of here
i been working at the convenience store
managed to save just a little bit of money
we won't have to drive too far
just 'cross the border and into the city
you and i can both get jobs
and finally see what it means to be living
.
you see my old man's got a problem
he live with the bottle that's the way it is
he says his body's too old for working
i say his body's too young to look like his
my mama went off and left him
she wanted more from life than he could give
i said somebody's got to take care of him
so i quit school and that's what i did
.
you got a fast car
but is it fast enough so we can fly away
we gotta make a decision
we leave tonight or live and die this way
.
i remember we were driving driving in your car
the speed so fast i felt like i was drunk
city lights lay out before us
and your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
and i had a feeling that i belonged
and i had a feeling i could be someone, be someone, be someone
.
you got a fast car
and we go cruising to entertain ourselves
you still ain't got a job
and i work in a market as a checkout girl
i know things will get better
you'll find work and i'll get promoted
we'll move out of the shelter
buy a big house and live in the suburbs
you got a fast car
and i got a job that pays all our bills
you stay out drinking late at the bar
see more of your friends than you do of your kids
i'd always hoped for better
thought maybe together you and me would find it
i got no plans i ain't going nowhere
so take your fast car and keep on driving
.
you got a fast car
but is it fast enough so you can fly away
you gotta make a decision
you leave tonight or live and die this way
.
by tracy chapman
.
.
ONE HEADLIGHT
.
so long ago, i don't remember when
that's when they say i lost my only friend
well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease
as i listened through the cemetery trees
i seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn
the long broken arm of human law
now it always seemed such a waste
she always had a pretty face
i wonder why she hung around this place
.
hey, come on try a little
nothing is forever
there's got to be something better than
in the middle
me & cinderella
we put it all together
we can drive it home
with one headlight
.
she said "it's cold - it feels like independence day
and i can't break away from this parade
but there's got to be an opening
somewhere here in front of me
through this maze of ugliness and greed"
i seen the sign up ahead at the county line bridge
sayin' all is good and nothingness is dead
we'll run until she's out of breath
she ran until there's nothin' left
she hit the end, it's just her window ledge
.
hey, come on try a little
nothing is forever
there's got to be something better than
in the middle
but me & cinderella
we put it all together
we can drive it home
with one headlight
.
well this place is old
it feels just like a beat up truck
i turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn
well it smells of cheap wine and cigarettes
this place is always such a mess
sometimes i think i'd like to watch it burn
i'm so alone, and i feel just like somebody else
man, i ain't changed, but i know i ain't the same
but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams
i think her death it must be killin' me
.
hey, come on try a little
nothing is forever
there's got to be something better than
in the middle
but me & cinderella
we put it all together
we can drive it home
with one headlight
.
by the wallflowers
.
.
LITTLE RED CORVETTE
.
i guess i shoulda known
by the way u parked your car sideways
that it wouldn’t last
see, you’re the kinda person
that believes in makin’ out once
love ’em and leave ’em fast
i guess i must be dumb
’cuz u had a pocket full of horses
trojan and some of them used
but it was saturday night
i guess that makes it all right
and u say what have i got 2 lose?
and honey I say
little red corvette
baby you’re much 2 fast
little red corvette
u need a love that’s gonna last
i guess i shoulda closed my eyes
when u drove me 2 the place
where your horses run free

’cuz i felt a little ill
when i saw all the pictures
of the jockeys that were there before me
believe it or not
i started to worry
i wondered if i had enough class
but it was saturday night
i guess that makes it all right
and u say, baby, have u got enough gas? (oh yeah)
little red corvette
baby you’re much 2 fast, yes u r
little red corvette
u need 2 find a love that’s gonna last
a body like yours (a body like yours)
oughta be in jail (oughta be in jail)
’cuz it’s on the verge of bein’ obscene
move over baby (move over baby)
gimme the keys (gimme the keys)
i’m gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine
little red corvette
baby you’re much 2 fast
little red corvette
u need 2 find a love that’s gonna last
little red corvette
honey u got 2 slow down (got 2 slow down)
little red corvette
’cuz if u don’t u gonna run your
little red corvette right in the ground
right down 2 the ground (honey u got 2 slow down)
u, u, u got 2 slow down (little red corvette)
you’re movin’ much 2 fast (2 fast)
u need 2 find a love that’s gonna last
u got an ass like i never seen
and the ride...
i say the ride is so smooth
u must be a limousine
.
by prince
.
.
ΚΟΚΚΙΝΟ
.
χωρίς φωτιά δεν ζει κανείς
μη με ρωτάς μην απορείς
η φύση μου το άλλοθί μου
είναι ανήσυχη η ψυχή μου
για να σε βλέπω καθαρά
.
έχω σκορπίσει τόσες φορές
μα έχω ακόμα εφτά ζωές
από αγάπες που φύγαν μακριά
γεννιέμαι ξανά και ξανά
.
τώρα πια βλέπω καθαρά
φτάνει η ζωή αληθινά
.
κόκκινο αμάξι σφαίρα
ένα κορίτσι στον αέρα θηλυκό
κατακτάει τον ουρανό
πως να κρατήσεις έτσι απλά
ένα κορίτσι που κρύβει
μια γυναίκα στην καρδιά
κόκκινο
.
στίχοι: θεοδοσιά τσάτσου
.

ποστ-ιτς στο παρμπριζ

.
the longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key. (edward abbey)
.
a city that outdistances man's walking powers is a trap for man
(arnold toynbee)
.
you can't see anything from a car; you've got to get out of the goddamn contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbrush and cactus. when traces of blood begin to mark your trail, you'll see something, maybe.
(edward abbey)
.
any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.
(albert einstein)
.
never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly.
(author unknown)
.
the car has become the carapace, the protective and aggressive shell, of urban and suburban man.
(marshall mcluhan)
.
the automobile has not merely taken over the street, it has dissolved the living tissue of the city. its appetite for space is absolutely insatiable; moving and parked, it devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere islands of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic.
(james marston fitch)
.
everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.
(e b white)
.
modern technology owes ecology an apology
(alan m. eddison)

on the dunes (kamakiriad)

.
on the dunes
.
drive along the sea
far from the city's twitch and smoke
to a misty beach
that's where my life became a joke
.
on the dunes
on the dunes
where rents are high
and seabirds cry
on the dunes
.
as you spoke you must have known
it was a kind of homicide
i stood and watched my happiness
drift outwards with the tide
.
on the dunes
on the dunes
.
it wasn't fair
it's brutal there
on the dunes
.
pretty boats
sweeping along the shore
in the faltering light
pretty women
with their lovers by their side
it's like an awful dream
i have most every night
.
in the summer all the swells
join in the search for sun and sand
for me it's just a joyless place
where this loneliness began
.
on the dunes
on the dunes
.
i'm pretty tough
but the wind is rough
on the dunes
.
by donald fagen
.
'on the dunes' is from fagen's 'kamakiriad' album.
'kamakiriad is an album of eight related songs. the literal action takes place a few years in the future (...) in the first song, "trans-island skyway," the narrator tells us he is about to embark on a journey in his new dream-car, a custom-tooled kamakiri. it's built for the new century: steam-driven, with a self-contained vegetable garden and a radio link with the tripstar routing satellite. the next six songs describe his adventures along the way. in the last song, ‘teahouse on the tracks’, the narrator lands in dismal flytown where he must decide whether to bail out or rally and continue moving into the unknown...
(from the liner notes of donald fagen’s ‘kamakiriad’)
.

(cars and girls)

.
brucie dreams: life’s a highway
too many roads bypass my way, or they never begin.
innocence coming to grief
at the hands of life - stinkin’ car thief, that’s my concept of sin
does heaven wait all heavenly over the next horizon ?
.
but look at us now, quit driving, some things hurt more much more than cars and girls.
just look at us now, start counting, what adds up the way it did when we were young ?
just look at us now, quit driving, some things hurt much more than cars and girls.
.
life’s a drive through a dust bowl, what’s it do, do to a young soul
we are deeply concerned,
someone stops for directions, something responds deep in our engines,
we have all been burned
will heaven wait all heavenly over the next horizon ?
.
but look at us now, quit driving, some things hurt more much more than cars and girls.
just look at us now, start counting, what adds up the way it did when we were young ?
look at us now, quit driving, some things hurt much more than cars and girls.
.
little boy got a hot rod, thinks it makes him some kind of new god
well this is one race he won’t win,
’cos life’s no cruise with a cool chick
too many folks feelin’ car sick, but it never pulls in.
brucie’s thoughts - pretty streamers
guess this world needs it’s dreamers
may they never wake up…
.
by prefab sprout
.

GRAND THEFT AUTO

.
.
objects in the rear view mirror
may appear closer than they are
.
even if they look bashed
and a near wreck,
its just your luck-
you found a tow truck!
.
accidentally...
.
wrap your arms around my engine
we'll ride into the sun
and rock the dashboard confessionals,
wave down to our wrecking yards
.
let this be my present to you:
a winged tow truck for you to tuck
.
and never again worry
'bout crash and harm
for ever armed with this,
your hot-rod charm
.

vroooooom!

BEEP! BEEP!