Traffic Jam - (A Road Trip)

[Doreen Peri]

Fill up your tanks
and rev your engines!

We're gonna take a verse ride,
down wide highways & byways,
freeways and toll roads, one-lane
unpaved country lanes, weaving
in and out of trouble on the way,
during daylight and way past nightfall,
calling all vehicles, all VWs and Acuras!
Got an old Olds? Can't afford to leave your
Ford pick-up in the carport? Got a sports car?
A Jaguar? A Mustang? A cheap Kia?
This traffic jam's gonna free ya up!

We can go anywhere with words.
Imaginary vehicles? Nothing absurd about that.
Verses are magic! We can turn your pumpkin
and your cat into a chariot pulled by a stallion!
Whatever you want, there ain't no speed limit here!
See right up there around the bend?
There's a sign post up ahead.
Thought you were just going home?
Think again, you're headed to the Zone!

Fill up your tanks
and rev your engines!

Tell us what you're driving, what you see.
Got a passenger or two or three?
Damn, man, this is gonna be a traffic jam!
Go baby GO!

And when you speed up or slow
down, write about the town you pass
or stop in. Who did you meet? Where did you stay?
What time of day did you get there? Where are
we going next?

Jam out your text, poet people!
You're driving the bus!
This road jam is a must!
Trust us with the details of your trip!
Stop by at the no-tell motel, kick off your shoes,
take a dip in the pool.
Don't be no fool and miss this drive.
Traffic Jam's gonna make ya feel alive!

[Doreen Peri]

Beep beep!
HOoooooooOOONK!
Get outa the way,
I'm comin' through!
Headed to the shore
where's there's more
seafood than I can afford!
I'm bigtime bored with this
city life, gonna find a fisherman
on the docks, have some nights
of bliss, fish off the pier, oh dear
it's gonna be so fine!
Gonna catch a big one!
Gonna have eggs and saltwater trout
for breakfast! Let me OUTA here!
Beep beep!
HOoooooooOOONK!
Comin' through! Move on over
to the right lane or the shoulder.
The day is getting older and I'm in a rush.
I got some such stuff planned, much
more than I can tell ya!
Beep beep!
HOoooooooOOONK!
Move over, bud, I mean bizness!
I'm revvin' up, pavement movin' backwards
under my wheels!
Beep beep!
HOoooooooOOONK!
Get me outa here!

[stilltrucking]

Damn this traffic jam—
How I hate to be late.
It hurts my motor to go so slow—
Damn this traffic jam.
Time I get home, my supper'll be cold—

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Lets go
to the land of pleasant living
National Bo—
hemian beer
fried crabs and oyster stew
it ain't kosher
even so
get me outa here and
gimme some of that

[WIREMAN]

it's a land of pleasant
living day supreme
up all night
what a show
dance dance dance
another one today
hampden----baltimore u.s.a.
it's bring your momma day

last night's show at cafe nola...by matt spears

[SadLuckDame]

Cruising for cuisine over in Amsterdam
and Paris, I'll drink wine in my car
listen to a saxophone holler across time,
eat nachos cause too drunk on tequila in Mexico
I'll go barefoot with a long summer dress on,
then there'll be dancing in the parking lot
road trip to Arizona with the wind mussing my hair
going down the desert roads looking for a place
to get busy in the hot sun, in the solitude
with Joe tired of the wheel
gonna steal my kisses like serpentine
keeping time cause I'd missed it
missed it when dead with conviction
from hollow days too acquainted,
he'll say what can be done
and I'll tell him he's gotta wrestle this thing
this thing bigger than the individual
bigger than me, bigger than me Joe!
"If you don't beat the hell out of it
then who could?
Tell me who could? You do it."
I'll hold him long into the night
Colorado has a lot of appeal
we'll eat sandwiches and write verse
under the design capable of
urged to find out how fast I can drive
going down the road looking alive
look fine, look overfed, look underfed
what look contrived from looking at mountains
a land in milk and honey?
Can we point the wheel in that direction
then I sleep a lot, sleep in your lap
and I sometimes say just drive
I trust you
I go deeply sounder still to address my within
you trace my cheek bone with your other hand
steering us to some destination
not on the map, not anywhere I thought of
it signifies an assistance of the soul
of our two souls, of a road trip to recover from
recover from a tiring world, of a difficult existence
where interior heals the spirit sometimes
and company is like a third eye
directing when sleep takes over
pointing to destiny not on a map
not there but here and here and here
when you're too exhausted let me have at it,
I'll go, "It's lucky I'm so wide awake
and willing, willing to drive the night shift,
willing to ball on out of there
and I got my favorite song on,
wide awake! Let's go
then I won't bother with reading anymore signs
just drive till it's theatrical
drive till it's a dramatic sunrise over a big valley
lit up like a famous painting from some 1800's vision
listen for the birds performance
hollering it's here! we've got honey suckle!
we've got big healthy cows in the meadows!
Here we are, here you showed up
the suddenness will be enough to get drunk on
to indulge in such offerings
it'll be there we both can lay up
lay down and rest
rest like we'd not truly done
nothing left to ache
nothing left to irritate or aggravate
or intensify pangs
just a peace
sleep

[Doreen Peri]

fabulous poetry, Dame!
love it!

[Doreen Peri]

Let us go
to where the road below our feet
continues out to meet a horizon
leading to a new day's joy,
where the city clatter, the street
noise becomes percussive music,
angels singing harmonies to
our heartbeats!

Let us go
to where gardens grow, enough
food to feed all those who inhabit
this earth, where the birth of peace
completes the day and we are children,
each day created by playground thought!

Let us go
where we are taught what we teach,
our hands reaching out to help, turning soil,
planting seeds, harvesting during autumn,
a cool breeze evaporating neck sweat!

Let us go
soon, my friends, to a new moon offering,
this struggle complete, our sweet rest
then, the dream our new breath!

Let us go.
Let us go.
Blessed are we who
travel this long road.
Blessed are we who
complete the journey.

[Doreen Peri]

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