The hypnotic thrum of the wheels
Drumming smoothly along the tracks
Inside the early morning hush
Broken by the rare stifled cough
The casual rustling of a newspaper
And the whisper of sporadic conversation.
A body slumped against the window
Business papers being scanned
Earpieces inviting oblivion to the outside world
Anxious glances thrown at watches.
The driver whistles quietly to himself
Glad that soon his shift will be over
Trees ,bushes,houses and bridges
Slide past,silent observers of the passing scene.
What is that?He stiffens
The crucifixion shape on the parapet
The manual did spell out such eventualities.
Uselessly he slams on the brakes
He glimpses the inward looking eyes
The body glances off the windscreen
The brakes screech and squeal
And the acrid stench of burning flesh fills the air.
The sickening jolt throws
Everyone awake.
Time grinds to a halt.
Categories:
earpieces, suicide,
Form: Free verse
(NP) SHE WAS KIDDING
Its not offensive odors which bother me
That’s the province of my loving and ever-tolerant wife: she
Whose nose can detect a shoeless sock
Which has been worn for even a half hour on the clock,
Or me cooking sausages even before they start to smoulder,
Or if I ate onion three days ago. No. As I get older
It’s noise pollution which is my life’s bain,
Especially rock music which gives me pain,
The guys with 600 watts in their car at the red light,
The punks on the corner sharing earpieces in the night,
And I can still hear it half a block away straight.
Obviously good music ended with Sergeant Pepper in 1968
But the worst of all the modern notions is (c)rap
“Music”. I mean who was it that told the guy in the baseball cap,
The fat guy in sunglasses, that he could sing?
Was it his mother? Didn’t he know she was kidding?
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Entered in Susan Burch’s Contest Noise Pollution
Categories:
earpieces, funny, music, me, music,
Form: Couplet