Past Tense: Prose Poem

Who Drives You to the Page Prompt: the big Bukowski

but it seemed like there were times when rot stopped waited like a streetcar at a signal — Bukowski, “lilies in my brain”

When I discovered my desire was held hostage ransom note in pieces fluttering from old car antennae I lost that too

with my right leg cut off at the knee — Kali swings again! — and goddess but I climb sore and burnt behind the Cricket’s wheel —left foot on pedals heading east down the number 1 — screeching past Kenora ignoring a drink from the petulant lakes while knocking on the Shield for stones to give up some tequila thirst —

I got down off my saw horse and realized I wasn’t moving or in a car and the Cricket had been in a graveyard since at least 1993

I wasn’t born then — that came later— but the tension of time and the rotting wavers all round my senses like a fingernail stuck on a violin string — hampered by my driving time —imagine a road that goes past all this to a future —

but then legless and breathing hard I’m chasing a loose wheel down Portage west to Brandon to 1981 which now feels like an odd place to start.

J.D. Harms 2022

No, I’m not a huge fan of The Big Lebowski…but I do love Bukowski: his wry and epic images, succinct phrasing, and the sense of a constantly collapsed existence are endearing. Not that he could be considered great from a feminist point of view…

Though I’ve only really read Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, Charles Bukowski published over 60 books and thousands of poems, which means (literally) miles of inspiration. For today’s prompt, seek out a piece of Bukowski that drives you to the page. I’ll grant that some of you may find him difficult to be inspired by; in that case, work that takes on some of his main themes of blue-collar/working class life, alcoholism, or the frustrated writer would be acceptable substitutions.

Please tag me in it, and rock on, write on!

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