Tuesday, March 8, 2016

A Poem by Carl Palmer


less tar

us in the bus
carpool lane
riding past her
with cell phone
and cigarette
red BMW convertible
lane-locked in traffic
our eyes meet
reveal to each our dream
she the desire to move swiftly
me wanting to taste the nicotine
from her lips



Carl Palmer of Old Mill Road in Ridgeway VA now lives in University Place WA.  He has a 2015 contest winning poem riding buses somewhere in Seattle.  Carl is a Pushcart Prize and Micro Award nominee.  MOTTO:  Long Weekends Forever  www.authorsden.com/carlpalmer



5 comments:

  1. I always thought(mistakenly) that when a man looked at a woman he was interested in her. Now I wonder why they are looking. Maybe she got the wrong hair color. Ha. Good poem enjoyed reading. Made me think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing your thought, Rose, and sharing my dream.
    I clicked your name, wandered your web.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This poem – “less tar” – captures a mysterious moment between two human beings. There seems to be a moment of deep connection, but Carl Palmer gives us the irony that the human connection is really an unbridgeable separation: She is going her way, and he (the poet) is going his. Moreover, the writer of this poem may really want a “nicotine hit” more than a kiss, for a kiss on “nicotine lips” is “less tar” than actually smoking a cigarette. There is a lot in this poem, not the least being a very sharp wit.

    Raymond Keen – author of “Love Poems for Cannibals” and “The Private and Public Life of King Able” (a drama)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, Ray, high praise indeed, in both directions.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Outstanding Poem with clear messages any one can UNDERSTAND. A lot of writers cannot accomplish this writing feat.

    ReplyDelete