Appropriate Use of GPS System

 

Riding

 

Take me for a ride in your big German car.

The one where the windows slide up over the world,

And we glide all over the city, not talking.

So silently and smoothly as I sit in the leather molding, me like a Hapsburg princess

bowing and waving to my sidewalks.

Take me in your big German car to Soho

Where we can eat in places with names like countries that have abbreviated

Themselves into booths and red leather seats and shared dishes served by waiters

With hair that is curled into spires of cities yet unknown to me.

Turn on your woman who tells you where to go, how to navigate the world,

With a voice that is low from under the dashboard,

Almost guttural,

So strict you do it even when I ask you not to.

Take me in your car on the highway above and around and we can see the city

Lights and we glide along you and me with the resting arm place between us and

The purr purr of the great German machine telling me not to worry

Until morning.

There’s music to be heard from azure squares and the BBC world makes

Everything all right,

The proper perspective as

I braid my hair,

Polish my alpenrose,

Lower my lederhosen, while you drive us into the night.

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2 responses to “Appropriate Use of GPS System”

  1. weekdaypoet Avatar

    I clicked on a wordpress click to this poem because the title sounded cool… my first reaction, I admit, was “Wicked! She uses the same theme as me!” 😉

    And then I read the poem…

    Really like this thing. Felt like I was being taken on a ride from the first line, it’s perfect.

    The ride did start to feel a little bumpy to me during the “dinner in Soho” section, though. It was the details felt forced, or the “foreign” theme felt forced, or the pair of the two together was… something about it didn’t feel quite the same as the rest of the poem.

    Love the presence of the GPS as “his woman,” a third party in the car, almost a competitor, but the speaker doesn’t car (though I’m not sure whether this is because the speaker has enough self-confidence, or too little…) Anyway, she’s a sexy guttural interloper, and the best character in the poem 😉

    Had to look up both “alpenrose” and “lederhosen.” Thought they might have been German but apparently they’re just English that I don’t know. For what it’s worth, I think it would have been appropriate (title drop!) to have a German word tucked somewhere near the end. “Drive us into the night” nailed home the poem’s setting, but it’s much less original and inspired than the rest.

    Great job, though. Thanks for the read.

    1. lucindaw Avatar

      thanks for such a thoughtful comment. I will think about your suggestions as they ring true for me. Lucinda

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