77 cutlass
77 cutlass
by john penn
our station wagon was not just sky blue
it was like the sky
we went everywhere in it
along an endless line of sea oats
through racist towns
up the great divide and down
and on really clear nights away from the city
if you looked out towards the west you could see us moving slowly down in the sky
we danced in the sky and fought in it
for many days and nights till we grew weary
and angels stood beside us for strength
but we fell from the sky and now no one knows where it is
although someone said they spotted it somewhere outside of cleveland
the “sea oats” threw me (though it made sense when I looked it up), but outside of that, I thought this was a terrific and very evocative poem. I especially liked the first line of the second stanza – a nice way to represent the full spectrum of life as we live it.
I love poems about cars though I’ve never seen anyone do them quite like Cummings or Brautigan could. I also like to hear Tom Waits sing about them.
Good job John.