Ins and Outs Part 1

Author's note: This is an epic length poem that will have to be split into parts and will be serialized in successive posts. PART 1 the highway's double line snakes in and out of my headlights they searchlight the lanes for a motel pool TV free ice a sign widens from nothing then vanishes in the rear view past the unseen history is much larger can run you off the road even if you are looking turns bearings into iron filings until the wheels come off diagramming the pavement spinning screeching scraping his scream is his epitaph: UNCONTRITE! beneath the chassis flayed radials churning plowing tumbling windows crushed into diamonds gouging up brush and burrow small animals flee the inverted V8 but the harbinger tongue of DelphI falls short of its fated mark invoking more throat than brow with its post-Olympian thunderbolt as dirt geysers settle with a billowing hiss and quiet returns to the orchard of the damned his one remaining sealed beam still lit on poor rent earth swinging from its fender socket by a web of circus wires chrome ring gone battery hanging out wipers pretzled and knotted radiator exploded into curls of steam fenders corrugated undulating yet all the lights dash dome deck door are alive and the radio naturally it is on naturally it is a top 40 offering still alive on NEURO WARD 4 car and operator auto de fe needing a clue he searches the face of his nurse Musella she hums a lullaby chant from the age of Innocence Lucille the Oldsmobile undecipherably rendered by top 40 grand pianist Little Ricardo whose connection to the theater makes the night a stage act one a mysterious then delirious yet serious vision the first of a series eyes open wide open no room for the boatman's fare on this horizontal panorama where the 3-D effect the kiss of life the flame of reason and all the world's ills are caused by crackling static no one hears it very delirious serious mysterious the sprockets of the Gods unwind second act action act two Musella sees the light on the panel answers the buzz oh, mon cher you look as though you have seen a ghost have you seen the ghost his face his mask she places the mask over his reconstructed face both smiling and drooling underneath the surgical cotton TO BE CONTINUED From "Engine of Didactic Beauty" available on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/nhfk6dr