Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Eclipse - The Projection Method using a large box of Oatmeal - Poem: Gathering Forces


 See the moon below projected onto the cardboard?


I wrote a dandy poem about it. Lemme see if I can find it.

GATHERING FORCES

The machinery on high
looks down at the earthlings
they're on the road again
in the sunny U S A
A few are joggin,
most have taken to their
vehicles, Ford pick-ups,
Toyota Raves with dogs
barking out the back windows,
and how bout that
three-wheeled red motorcycle!

"Hun, did you check the oil?"

"Got enough blankets just in case?"

"What if the baby comes when we're
outside Portland?"

Even folks in nursing homes feel
the pull, the excitement, the thrill
Jest let me live till the sky darkens
says ole Granny in her terrycloth
robe.

Great fried chicken, Fontaine,
say the folks in her new gold Lexus
whose shocks protect them from
trash the thoughtless have
tossed from their windows.

Fontaine wipes her mouth and
says, "Extra napkins in the glove,
Dunkin Donuts this time."

"You're the best, Mama!" says
daughter LeVonne. They've finally
made up after years of squabbling.
The bipolar didn't help none.

The shadows begin to fall
at different times
a hush falls over America
bathed in a new amaze, a new
belief that Yes, let's try again,
I'll make something of myself this time,
I'll give up drugs, be nicer to my
sister, listen to more Joshua Redmund
on tenor sax, obey the 10 commandments,
or most of em anyway.

And then each one is left in their own
thoughts, many wondering, Will the
darkness last forever?

Outside the rest stop in South Carolina
the doctor and his wife sit atop a
picnic table and stare at the sky.
Each has a pair of special glasses
that shield their eyes.

"Reminds me, Dear, of when we watched
'The Fly' back home at the
drive-in with the 3-D glasses."

"Help me! Help me!"

"All's I can say," said the doctor
"is that we drove - what? - 8 hours
exhausted, arguing, heads out
the window to stay awake to
see a golden chalice in the sky that
comes once every 17 years. Was it
worth it?"

"Damn straight," they cried in unison.

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