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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Monday, October 24, 2011

Drive

America by Car by Lee Friedlander
Herrmetically sealed soccer moms
reading the latest Danielle Steele
Chauffeurs in Crocs 
clogging school bus lanes
dropping off
picking up charges
Taxi drivers
(You talkin' to me?)
(No one's talking to you, Mom!)
ferrying their freight
dance class
karate
mall
another mom's car
wherever, just

~ Drive ~

We used to have drive
before
we became the drivers
to others
Driven
by the needs of others
driven
to distraction
by interruptions from others
driven
crazy
by believing others 
who told us 
we could have it all

submitted for Magpie Tales 88

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I don't drive.

Christine said...

a terrorific post, living out of town I feel the drivers angst daily

Roy Schulze said...

I especially like the way you play with the word drive in the second half, and how it leads to the disillusionment that comes with adulthood. But really, is Danielle Steele still writing those doorstops of hers? And wouldn't the soccer mom be listening to the audiobook? :-)
My Magpie Tales this week is In Vince’s Car.

Brian Miller said...

haha....yes, it does take its toll being at the beck and whim of the kids...

Susie Clevenger said...

Driven...to a location or crazy or both...love this :)

Anonymous said...

Haha nice! Cool blog :)

Pat Tillett said...

oh yeah, just driven completely crazy...
very good!

Berowne said...

"We used to have drive before we became the drivers."
Beautifully written, good point.

Frances Garrood said...

I really liked this; my chauffeuring days, when the car was full of children and mud and crumbs...I remember them well.

(Nowadays the car ferries grandchildren and mud and crumbs, so I suppose nothing much has changed.)

Kerry O'Connor said...

I like this response to the pic. Your words in parenthesis certainly rang true. The switch after the bridge was very well conceived, I thought.

JustRex said...

And checking their Twitter accounts while driving down the road.

Helen said...

Trust me, it gets better after retirement!

Lillian Susan Thomas said...

great word play, a different puente, perhaps this IS the bridge to nowhere, or maybe "loosing my marbles" land. you have great fun with this and at the same time extract a lot of meaning from the play.

Intelliblog said...

I like the switch between active "drive" and passive "driven". How life often turns the drivers into the driven! Great poem and an original take on this photo.

Kathy Bischoping said...

Ouch...it makes me feel for my friends who are at that Soccer Mom stage of life.

M. A. S. said...

I love the first poem. I think it would be more powerful on its own.

Maggie said...

LOL. One of the best days was when spawn got her license.

Wonderful take.

Chronicles of Illusions said...

oh i am glad that stage of my life is over

izzy said...

Being at their beck and call- I like the way you put it together! thanks.

Jinksy said...

Thank goodness I never drove...my kids knew what legs were for...

Tess Kincaid said...

My neck of the woods is filled with these soccer moms...