red car

In honor of Nuala ni Chonchuir’s newly released book of poetry,
Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car, TFE is sending out his famed
Poetry Bus. Make sure you drop by his blog on Friday for the big
celebration. Tickets for the bus must include a poem with the words
"red" and "car". Mine is as follows...



My heart skipped a beat
when he tossed me the keys,
"Yup, she's yours," he said.
A surprise; what a treat.

Second hand and deep red.
Not the fiery, blood red
of the sleek and the sporty;
more a friendly apple red,
a tootsie pop red.

Her engine sputtered 'round,
known to stall at lights
and crawl up town at night,
top down, wind grabbing my hair.

Heat barely there, seeped out
of funny holes in the floor.
Rain spattered above
though the roof and the door.

She was my first love.
I was utterly smitten
by that clunky old bug
in a rug, sweet volks of a car.
.


willow, 2010
.

picture borrowed from google images