This week's Poetry Bus driver is the very talented Don't Feed the Pixies. He set us all the task of rehabilitating road (or any other) signs that were just lounging about doing nothing. We could either:
1) Follow the sign and write something we saw at the other end
2) Merely imagine what might be at the other end and write about that
3) Find a new use for the word on the sign to explain something that currently has no word
So Dr. M and I took a ramble today in the Bugly & found ourselves out in the Ohio countryside. We traveled down this road:
And found this sign:
Just in case you can't see, it says, "Ho STOP 4 $20"
Whereupon I chose Option 2 and wrote this poem:
Love in the Cornfields
It's not an easy life
Love in the cornfields
Love on the plow
Love for a Jackson
It's not an easy life
Corn fed Ohio boys
Always want a deal –
Hamilton and Lincoln
It's not an easy life
Cows to be milked
I just want a little
Spending money on the side
It's not an easy life
Love in the cornfields
But sometimes
We go for ice cream after
Hi The Bug - love the pics.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you "imagined" not an easy life at the end of the signpost intrigues me, it, it may not be an easy life but I love the ending the picture of gong for ice cream if fabulous
Really like what you've done here.
ReplyDeletex
Okay I started my Monday morning with your blog. Now that I have recovered from my laughing fit I have to say, well done Miss Bug... well done indeed.
ReplyDeleteDear Bug
ReplyDeletea whole short story in a beautiful tight little poem
this is truly inspired
I have sent it to my friend from Ohio
who is a poet with an excellent sense of humor
what a fun post...besides the fact that you made me want ice cream. i love it!
ReplyDeleteAww, I like the sound of love in the cornfields and icecream after... maybe I'm just easily pleased! Enjoyed the journey
ReplyDeleteJust a note - it's not exactly LOVE in the cornfields. In our part of the world "Ho" = "Whore" - so it's a bit of prostitution going on. I think.
ReplyDeleteThat last sign is the BEST. OMG. Do you people actually think before they put up stuff like this? Wow.
ReplyDeleteGood gracious, Dana. Prostitution and Cheese in the same post, that has to be the winner of some non sequitur award!
ReplyDeleteIt's like some particularly perverse SAT question:
Hookers are to cheese as...
a) corn is to blogs
b) memes are to lists
or c) road signs are to poetry
"Well that wasn't on the sample test!"
Well done ;-)
Dear The Bug,
ReplyDeleteThis is really great. "A Hamilton and a Lincoln" has great ambiguous meaning, not just the ten and five, but the number of guys.
So well done! Very charged! I love this one the best so far.
Thanks for the eye-opener, which is what poetry does!
Ann T.
I really like this.It's beautiful simplicity wrapped up in a dark sweet wraper of reality.But What pleases me most is perhaps this poem wouldn't hasve been written save for the prompt.And THAT is what the poetry bus is all about, discovery!
ReplyDeleteRESULT!!!
I'm laughing, laughing...
ReplyDeleteHi Bug - yep, totally with you on the meanings. Liked this a lot and the sign was fun too
ReplyDeleteIce cream is always good for afters..
ReplyDeleteNeato!
ReplyDeleteI think this is brilliant tongue-in-cheek, Dana!
ReplyDeleteOkay, that made me laugh right out loud. Love it...! You are brilliant...!
ReplyDeletebeautiful poem.
ReplyDeletei am very, very intrigued by that sign!
This is marvellous, Bug. I'm smiling from ear to ear, this is such a charmingly delightful poem :D
ReplyDeleteGiggling in Argentina :D
ReplyDeleteLove your fun poems that always leave me grinning.
"But sometimes
ReplyDeleteWe go for ice cream after"
I loved it. I know that I certainly would enjoy ice cream after. Thanks for the laugh, Bug!
LMAO! Thank you sooooo much for providing this chuckle today, Ms. Bug! I love the corny essence of this. It's amazing what some 'creative artists' do with a stop sign... even in farm country.
ReplyDeleteBug, I need to take a picture of a stop sign in Marietta, OH. I has been there forever. It reads STOP breeding. It may pair well with a follow-up poem about your cornfield hos.(hoes?)
ReplyDeleteOh, Bug!! How sorry I am that this is my first time here! I love the poem and the ramblings that got me there!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your vacation. I look forward to reading more here.