The honeydew vines
that wind around, sending up leaves
about the trellises on the old blue house,
they send themselves up as
though ascending elevator shafts—
and if you listen close,
you might hear the oddest tones:
mellifluous, tinny notes of
office building music composed
of a marching band army
of xylophone players.
They are strung along
as if in common cars that cling precariously
to every curve,
unable to stop, bereft of their
all-essential anti-lock brakes.
Every car is driven by
a cockroach Kafka look-alike,
in love with fictional Canadian news reporters—
Scherbatsky, Kafka writes,
For The Win.
And apropos of nothing,
on Rachel Lilly (Winne’s) request,
I end this poem with the image
of a time-traveling Viking
laying sugary kisses,
moist upon her lips.
Author notes
I was part of a literary society at UGA, which I visit occasionally even after graduating. I usually come prepared with a poem to read on the floor, but I didn't have one on this occasion and I didn't want to leave without reading anything, as I'm moving across the country shortly and probably won't have a chance to visit for a very long time.
After I tried for a little while to get inspired, a fellow member decided to take it upon herself to collect random words/phrases from others. She gave me the list and declared I had to use all of them in one poem. (This was made even harder by the fact that I was well on my way to full inebriation.)
In no particular order, the words were:
honeydew
xylophone
elevator
mellifluous
anti-lock brakes
Kafka
moist
Scherbatsky
sugary kisses
The result is the above poem. Feel free to comment if you like, but keep in mind I didn't take this too seriously while writing it.
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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Hot damn, cj, this is fantastic! For you not taking it seriously it sure reads like a true blue ribbon winner. I love this poem. It's difficult to create something from a set list, I've tried it before and nothing ever seemed to work out right. You did a marvelous job and I can't express enough how much I really like this. Or, maybe I just did.
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ha! the author's notes would make a prose piece too, I liked it... I thought it had some real interest in the narrative and as your usual the phrasing captured the imagination...i enjoyed...PK
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