Sunday, August 10, 2008

"My Mom's Visiting from California, and I'm Busy Chauffeuring Her and the Kids Around Town to Clang in the the Trolley, Toot in the Train, Bob in the Lake, Strike (Out) in the Bowling Alley, and Gnosh on Sweet Treats, So I Haven't a Breaf in My Body Left for the Blogging I Really Want to Do--All of Which, In Sum, Means I'm Quickly Tossing Out a Poem I Love, One That Captures My Current August Zing"


Indeed, this poem has a summertime feeling for me--bright and cornucopial and ticking along.

I'd like to fancy myself the woman in this poem, but the truth is I'm more the lucky fool.



















THE RED PORSCHE By Charles Bukowski

it feels good
to be driven about in a red
porsche
by a woman better-
read than I
am.
it feels good
to be driven about in a red
porsche
by a woman who can explain
things about
classical
music to
me.

it feels good
to be driven about in a red
porsche
by a woman who buys
things for my refrigerator
and my
kitchen:
cherries, plums, lettuce, celery,
green onions, brown onions,
eggs, muffins, long
chilis, brown sugar,
Italian seasoning, oregano, white
wine vinegar, pompeian olive oil
and red
radishes.

I like being driven about
in a red porsche
while I smoke cigarettes in
gentle languor.

I'm lucky. I've always been
lucky:
even when I was starving to death
the bands were playing for
me.
but the red porsche is very nice
and she is
too, and I've learned to feel good when
I feel good.

it's better to be driven around in a
red porsche
than to own
one. the luck of the fool is
inviolate.

23 comments:

flutter said...

ah you managed to find the only bukowski poem that I totally love

Logophile said...

I recently looked through Flash of Lightning on the Mountain (or whatever that title is) again. Nice choice, madame, I like that one.
Hope you get some blog time soon, we enjoy it when you do

Glamourpuss said...

I wish more things in life were inviolate...

Puss

Anonymous said...

Hope the visit is totally fantastic!

lime said...

the fool is indeed luckier because he isn't the one who has to pay for gas and new transmissions....of course i could just be projecting my own frustration here.

have fun!

Minnesota Matron said...

Lovely poem. The Matron is always dressed in a shade of Harried Mama-Wife-Daughter-Worker. Good luck.

Janelle said...

just finished reading a bukowski collection...this poem is fab fab..like driving throught paris in the springtime..in a red porshe...hooah...X janelle

C. said...

The cost of gas these days...it would be better to have someone drive you around in a Porsche than own one. ;) Charles rocks.

Enjoy your visit!

Anonymous said...

I have a visit from the mother unit coming up later in the month. I'll be playing chauffer, too. But no porsche.

Claire said...

I'd be a fool, if I could have (good) luck.

Princess Pointful said...

I'm becoming more of a fan with Mr. Bukowski with each poem I read. And what a delicious last stanza!

Anonymous said...

You led me on an interesting trawl through his poems. Thanks for that, but hopefully his two-liner,
"The phone rang at 1.30 a.m.
and it was a man from Denver"can lead me to say, I write poems just like Bukowski,
"The doorbell rang at 5.30p.m.
It was the next-door's mother". I liked the poem you chose, and I like a lot of his others also.

paperback reader said...

Better than everything else I've ever read by him by far.

geewits said...

Hey, have fun with the visiting. I really loved your garden pics. And (get ready to roll your eyes) his name is Jack Daniel. Mr. Jack Daniel. I have a Jack Daniel's calendar hanging next to the computer (a long stupid story) and I happened to check it the other day to see what day of the week my Dad's 10th Deathaversary would fall on and on the very day my Dad died, it said, "Jack Daniel dies - 1911." How weird is that? I think Dad would get a kick out of that.

rak said...

anyone can drive me around and stock my fridge with such goodness :)

Diana said...

You would so look fabulous in that car. If the universe were worth its salt, someone fitting would show up at your door just to drive you around in it, gauzy scarf over the arm for tying 'round your hair, ends flying back in the breeze.

Minnesota Matron said...

The Matron sent you some love on her blog today, sweetie. . . is Jim Berg like Kevin Bacon? Six degrees?

Say It said...

Oh to be the the lucky fool! And no doubt its better to be driven in a porshe than to own one!

Lisa said...

I have never read that poem before...I like it! Happy chauffeuring!

Anonymous said...

one day, I will have a two seater

heartinsanfrancisco said...

"The luck of the fool is inviolate..." What a fantastic line!

Although I must confess that I would not mind owning a red Porsche and am fairly certain that I would even enjoy it. (I'm so plebeian.)

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's nice. I definitely identify with the lucky fool, too. Why have a unicycle when you can be with someone who owns one, for example.

I draw the line at canoes, though. Gotta have your own canoe.

Maddy said...

Too tired for wit I'm afraid. I like red cars though, not fussed about the rest of it. Red would mean that you could always find it again in the car park. Hope your mum had a great visit?
Cheers