Friday, September 25, 2009

Speed Reading In A Limousine


RWP#93

This week the poem was to take the form of a "whopper". So here is truly a whopper. Book titles and poems I red are in red.
This is a draft.









Speed Reading In A Limousine





We were bubbly drunk last weekend
when the limousine arrived
to take us to San Francisco
we told the chauffeur
as we loaded the boxes of books
case of wine
bread and cheese
in the back of the limo
twenty five hours of reading
as we headed down the gravel rod
with wine glass in hand
she started reading Alice Munro
The Love Of A Good Woman
for this road trip
I had Kerouac's On The Road
to get started
from our small town of Golden to San Francisco
The Town and The City by Kerouac
was next
speed reading to North Beach
with The Subterraneans and
Doctor Sax with
Visions Of Cody
Visions Of Gerard
Tristessa
Maggie Cassidy and the
Dharma Bums with the
Desolation Angels singing to
The Good Blonde And Others
Atop An Underwood as
Orpheus Emerged crying
The Mexico City Blues
San Francisco Blues while eating
Pomes All Sizes when
Orpheus Emerged the
Lonesome Traveller reading
Scattered Poems along with
The Scripture Of The Golden Eternity truly a
Book Of Dreams
Book Of Blues or trying to memorize
Vanity Of Duluoz while remembering
Satori In Paris then forgetting the
Pic of
Old Angel Midnight
Trip Trap
Heaven And Other Poems
as I poured more wine for
the love of my good woman
she reached to
Pull My Daisy from my lapel
to use as a bookmark in
The Handmaids Tale
finishing Kerouac's books
I began reading Grishman's
A Time To Kill which I threw out the window
then quickly turned to Hemmingway's
Men Without Women and
Truce Withouut Light
then a change of pace
Erle Stanley Gardner's
The Case Of Long Legged Models
as we entered Northern California
then some beat poetry on this
Sunday Evening where the
Junk Angel sings the
Blues For Sister Sally a
Benediction for
The West Coast Sounds and the
Abomunist Manifesto
Sex And Desire and
Mexican Loneliness while watching the
Migration Of Birds before the
Sunflower Sutra needs to
Howl and pray for
The Rain
For Love before writing his
Preface To A Twenty Volume Suicide Note after learning
How To Medidtate and sing a Sunday
Hymn
as our limousine reaches North Beach
and turns on Columbus Avenue
stopping at City Lights
books all red
wine all gone
passing the Zapatista mural
on Kerouac Alley
we went to the front door
posters of anarchism mucktracking and
class warfare
lead us upstairs to Ferlenghetti
sleeping on his sofa chair
baseball on TV
popcorn and beer
dreaming of Ezra Pound
we slouch beside him
exhausted
from a weekend of speed reading
in a limousine.

13 comments:

Jenn Jilks said...

I love it! I have a book signing this weekend. That is NOT a whopper! I am hoping to sell 3 books. That would be a success!

Paul Oakley said...

Whatta whopper! If you "red" even half in a weekend, the slouching exhausted beside Ferlenghetti in his sofa chair is your due!

Being a lit nut and loving the Beats, I found his fantasy quite my cuppa.

Irene said...

Wayne, Your speedreading makes me dizzy and exhilarated somehow. What a ride, in a limo.
Good fun.

Francis Scudellari said...

This road trip caught me up in its whirlwind and sped me along. A very enjoyable whopper, with a great payoff.

rallentanda said...

The concept of speed reading in a limo is
brilliant...loved it!Also any man who wears a daisy in his lapel gets extra points for
style.Well done.

Wayne Pitchko said...

THANKS again for everyone who take the time to read what I write...andyour comments are such a bonus

Tumblewords: said...

I couldn't help but be impressed by the food and wine, as well! Loved that Grisham's A Time to Kill went out the window. Indeed, a fun read.

Anonymous said...

"Wow! What a cast of devils!" (Ted Joans). This took me back to my passionate reading of the Beats back before the Summer of Love. Great stuff.

Anonymous said...

I really like the original and effective way the poem "finds" its sound and a different kind of journey in the book titles. City Lights is also one heck of a book store.

gautami tripathy said...

Those book titles did me in. What a journey it is! I read some and would like to red the others.

Do you know I have a book blog?

Here it is:

everything distils into reading

Deb said...

Fantastic tale. I love what you did with this idea!

Anonymous said...

I love this lark you take us on -- especially now during Banned Books Week! You've revisited the journey poem: an inner journey (reading a book) is matched by an outer journey (limousine). It's a great joke at the end when he's been watching TV instead of reading!

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