Maybe we can make a deal (Fast Cars, Pt 3)

When you're a man and pull your hair behind your ears
and tie it in a ponytail
that's called a compromise

when you want talk
when it's over
they call that bargaining
which is part of grieving

when you look people in the eye
when you're walking
that's bold
or daring
no matter how you are appealing

when you ask yourself
what makes a metal
it's the ability
to be flattened into sheets
and drawn into wires
as every jeweller knows

when you are walking in the wildflowers
try not to remember
you don't find roses growing on stalks of clover

however much you like the tune

when you wear slippers

don't trip on the frills

or be caught sporting mutton sleeves

or poodle wrists

or mules

and when you drive

don't forget

to make a deal

I can't remember

which is ritzier

Buick or Chevrolet

but Cadillac is the best

and everything else is bargaining

to get more for your money

than the next guy paid

stand your ground
make space for yourself
remember you've got nothing to prove
take your place
and fake it 'til you make it

don't hunch
or apologize
even if you can't make a decision
make racing changes
until the engine makes you shift.

Comments

Of course she's not a true red

As the parent of a "ginger", and having red heads on both sides of the family, and having married into two Irish families, I know first hand that ginger covers the whole spectrum from strawberry blonde (to my way of thinking a classic ginger!), to orange (carrot tops), to a real rust red (what my father in law would call a true red). When Pat Todkill first set eyes on his granddaughter, he remarked, "Of course, she's not a true red". For one thing, Emily the Elder lacked freckles on her face and upper body. For another, she really was and is a strawberry blonde. A further observation. Even people with the raven blackest hair have rust red lights--caveman red, soot covered ochre if you like. Woolly mammoth red. Sometimes it takes just the right light to pick out the smoldering ember, but beard and eyebrows tend to incorporate the tell tale ginger strain, like chili pepper in a spice jar of mixed pepper corns. And, of course, brunette...

Animals and aliens

When you think of Orwell's Animal Farm , you get stuck on the idea of some being more equal than others. But world peace, galactic harmony, the celebration of diversity and the active practice of inclusion are all achieved in science fiction by casting minorities in the role of animals and aliens. Star Trek comes to mind in this regard, where even hippies were disposed of, Federation style, as sensitive dissenting aliens, not forgetting Spock with his pointy ears! And then there were Wookiees, still man's best friend. Viewing animals as humans--anthropomorphizing--or treating different races as aliens, all of this is shape shifting. This shape is my shade, there where I used to stand--that's Steely Dan.

The city mover beat me to the chicory this evening maybe if I had passed by earlier I could have caught a glimpse of them but they will rise Phoenix like from the close cropped pile of grass and weed and present their brash and uneven beauty once again before the need for carpet and trimming loops of magic made by subterranean rug weavers is once again mandated and duly executed by the city crew in the burnt orange cabs of their ride along mowers browning the backs of their hands and letting the heat weather beat their faces to match the cabs and fulfill some unspoken contract between landscaping and maintenance and the gods of Chance Fortune as ever favouring the bold there will be other routs of the mover before the Summer is done and more rain hopefully if I can contain the fear of thunderheads building and more returns of visible biodiversity Nature never surrenders unconditionally but like a lover choosing her battl...

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