it was a bright pretty happy day
Joy had always been excited about life
she was from a small town
seventeen years old, in her happy element
She was from the kind of a town where people take care of each other
her bicycle chain broke on a country road
a nice-looking man in a blue pickup truck smiled at her
He turned his truck around to help
Offered to take her to town to fix it
Lifted the bike into his truck, showing his kindness
Joy trusted his smile
she was never seen again
Sue felt strongly that Chet had murdered his missing wife
When he offered her rides in his truck, her hair stood up straight.
She felt threatened by him without knowing why.
He looked normal, but something felt amiss.
He gave her the creeps.
She told her relatives about her feelings.
He is okay, Uncle Todd said.
Nothing wrong with him agreed Aunt Sandy.
Twenty-two years later Chet was convicted to 15 years
after his wife’s body was found
Forensics proved she had been murdered in his pickup truck.
I wish I was free but I'm stuck in this seat
With my long plaid skirt and socks up to the knee
Learning about latin and geometry
But there's so many places I'd rather be
I wish I was on a plane, a cute boy in the seat next to me
He would tell me about where he's from and places he's seen
While I smiled and listened contentedly
I wish I was on a boat, the ocean beneath my feet
My face in the sun, my hands in the breeze
A sailor would tell me old fishermen's tales
While I looked out and saw the majestic whales
I wish I was on a mountain with no one around
Just me and my feelings, free to scream out loud
My desire to leave and see things of every kind
My need for a way to leave this world behind
But I met this boy, I don't know his name
He has a pickup truck and a smile on his face
Says he'll take me for a ride, show me the sights
Let me run wild, I'll be free by tonight
Rainbow ribbons in her hair
Playing in the grass with no care
Making mud pies in the dirt
Skinny dipping in July no pants no shirt
Playing hide and seek football too
Finger painting pictures under sky blue
Racing the wind playing in the rain
Singing favorite songs pretending to have fame
Riding in the back of an old pickup truck
No seatbelt there on a dare so tough
Catching fireflies and huge June bugs
Sitting by camp fire drinking from a jug
Walking to church for Sunday school
Praying for sinners crazies and fools
Not yet finessed in politically correct
Calling it how you see it no regrets
It sits out in your driveway
a glittering metallic sculpture.
It costs more than your house,
you love it more than your spouse.
You can hardly drive it, it’s too high,
you can barely park it, it’s so wide.
Like an exotic compulsion, you need it,
though you can barely afford to feed it.
There’s a cockpit with winking tech,
offering a printer, wi-fi and refrigeration.
It can pull a house off its foundation.
Is there a tendentious ecological statement,
in this prestigious resource you need for work
is the fact that it’s tax deductible just a perk?
With this polished and pampered machine,
you get the rewards of effective parenting,
as it literally reflects the care that it’s given.
It’s a spaceship ready for expedition,
what else in creation is as elysian,
as your gigantic pickup truck.
.
.
songs for this:
Dreamin’ by G. Love and Special Sauce
Driving by Everything but the Girl
Little Deuce Coupe by Andrew Gold
Cruising in my pickup truck
Seems I might be out of luck
A semi with a heavy load
Just ran my ass off the road
I wonder if he was aware
I doubt he even saw me there
Not much to do at this stage
To help subdue my growing rage
To most city slickers I suppose
it’s a little hard for them to tell
the difference between a cowboy
and just a plain farmer. in the dell
Well one uses a horse and a rope
the other drives a tractor and plow
One smells like a fancy pickup truck
The other like the ass of a cow
The pickup truck ahead of us
Had decals on the glass,
The first a flag – American –
Like many cars we pass.
The second, a machine gun,
At an angle, all in white,
Announcing to the world
Someone is looking for a fight.
I guess interpretation
May arrive at different ends
But I’m pretty sure that driver
Wouldn’t be among my friends.
Daddy in His Pickup
A farmer just doing his work tells
His theory from where he sits,
"Forty miles an hour is fast enough
for anybody, isn’t it?"
Driving from home from being downtown
Windows down; pure air; feeling fit—
Waving at farm friends or passersby
The whole neighborhood was close knit
One can hardly deny his statement
About driving fast needs to quit
"Forty miles an hour is fast enough
for anybody, isn’t it?"
He traveled as safe as he could be
In red pickup truck; maybe unfit—
Proudly smiling with contentment
As parade of cars did permit
Traffic close at rear; driveway appeared,
Arm out straight, foot on brake, turn left;
" Forty miles an hour is fast enough
for anybody, isn’t it?"
-Evelyn Pearl Anderson
Our father, Orville Jones Carpenter, (1909 -1975) loved the red pickup truck so he would probably laugh at this little rhyme for Father's Day 2021.
Their heads superglued, smiles extend,
the spread of their deer quilt upon his lap.
They read, as if one, “Mon—ey can’t buy
hap-pi-ness but it can buy hunting gear…
which is pretty much the same thing.”
Last line succinctly added to their chime.
The deer stand, his pride, sometimes
given up to his wife, as he nervously
waits in the pickup truck. Recently
women show their trophies on media
with bowed knee and the stance of
a hunting rifle. Husband pounds chest.
2/4/2021
Zucchini in Hiding
David J Walker
What am I supposed to do
With this HUGE Zucchini
That hid under the HUGE leaves
Of its mother plant
For a month
Guarding it against a harvest
It is at last three feet long
And 10 inches around
I think I could use it to
Pound tent stakes into
The ground
I see there are recipes
For Huge Zucchini
Stuffed with Italian sausage
And mushrooms and cheese
That looks like it could feed
An Army
Or
I could hollow it out
To make a boat
Assuming it could float
Or
Grow another and
Carve both into those
Wooden Dutch boy shoes
Or
I could have left it alone
To grow on its own
Big enough to
Carve into a camper
Attaching wheels and an awning
Hooking it to the back of my
Pickup truck
Registering it as the only
Zucchini Camper in the country
Next year I swear
(as I always have)
To watch my garden with
More care
And keep checking by the
The hour
When the Zucchini’s start
To flower in the morning
By night it may be too late
And as fate will have it
I will discover another
Huge Zucchini in hiding
Hey lady, hey lady
Hire me
hire me
I have no work for you
I say
turning into Home Depot
holding my face
straight
ahead
wearing my grey hair like a shield.
Unable to look you in the eye,
I sitting unmoving as if you weren’t
right
there
in the middle of the street
right
there
hanging off the curb
waving at me.
Hey lady,
Hey lady.
I have no work for you
I say
heavy with guilt
from the bench seat of my
pickup truck.
Saturday someone
in a run down pickup truck
stuck his hand out the window
and gave, what man calls,
the finger.
was this meant to
make me feel blue
or more then likely
to reel at me
some sort of displeasure?
I failed to see
how a gesture
could accomplish
a reaction.
He gave me the finger-
I waved him a smile
Something New
Have you longed for something new
like ketchup on your crackers
To hang out till the break of dawn
with multiple kick backers
A peanut for a new best friend
unless you are allergic
A submarine in your back yard
so easy to submerge it
A watermelon kitchen sink
with seeds to help the drainage
A brand new wash cloth made of fur
to softly clean the stainage
A pickup truck with tap shoe wheels
so down the road you’re clicking
A new comb for your head of hair
with grease for easy slicking
To stick your neck out really far
like you have been giraffe-ing
Have you longed for something new
like this that leaves you laughing
10/15/18
Written for: The Trying Something New Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Nina Parmenter
This was a tough one and definitely something new for me. : )
Champagne when you celebrate
Wine just for the taste
Whiskey when you need to forget
And you have no time to waste
Beer when it’s hot and the work is done
Brandy when the nights turn cold
Rum on the beach fresh fruit within reach
Isopropyl when you're growing old
Scotch and whatever, black tie affairs
Vodka helps you play your role
But lying in the bed of an old pickup truck
Tequila... lets you visit your soul
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