Thanks for your enthusiastic response, Andrew! I
really like this little quatrain at the end--Candice
--- andrew burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hey, Candice, thank you! The Gwendolyn Brooks poem
> was swimming below
> the surface in my brain, but it just wouldn't
> surface. That's exactly
> the allusion I was looking for - I'll shoot the REAL
> in right now <g>
> That's cool!
>
> Androo
>
> On 03/04/07, MC Ward <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Doug, I wonder if you want "He REAL cool" for the
> sake
> > of rhythm and a stronger allusion to Gwendolyn
> Brooks?
> >
> > Candice
> >
> >
> >
> > --- Roger Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > > I liked this. Very vivid. Particularly the bit
> where
> > > the taxi mounted the path.
> > >
> > > On 4/3/07, andrew burke <[log in to unmask]>
> > > wrote:
> > > > The day was Monday so I rose early and went
> out to
> > > second campus by
> > > > the uni bus at 7.20am. I taught freshmen Oral
> > > English until 10am and
> > > > then caught a taxi back home. It is not
> expensive
> > > to catch a taxi
> > > > here, but it is often exciting, if sometimes
> > > dangerous. Today the
> > > > driver was an anachronism in physical
> appearance.
> > > He looked exactly
> > > > like a cartoon version of a 1950s/early 1960s
> > > American hipster: about
> > > > 30 years old, in a wide-lapelled, double
> breasted
> > > jacket with a dark
> > > > shirt underneath, 'cool' sunglasses, a prickly
> > > black goatee beard with
> > > > matching moustache, and a crazy haircut not
> unlike
> > > an old flat-top
> > > > Kramer cut from those decades. When I sat
> down, he
> > > said 'Hell oh',
> > > > gunned the tincan taxi out into the traffic,
> then
> > > grinned and said,
> > > > all as one phrase, 'Hell oh sit down pleeze'.
> I
> > > liked his way of
> > > > driving - fearless, fast and lyrical. He drove
> > > like I imagine Dean
> > > > Moriarty of _On the Road_ fame would have
> driven –
> > > or maybe the real
> > > > man behind the wheel of Keroauc's novel, Neal
> > > Cassidy. My driver knew
> > > > where every inch of outside skin on his tincan
> > > was, and he ducked and
> > > > dived through the slenderest alleyways of
> traffic
> > > like some kind of
> > > > animal … In fact. that was it!, the tincan was
> an
> > > extension of himself
> > > > and he was ducking and jiving like an
> Aboriginal
> > > Aussie rules football
> > > > player. And when the opposition defence got
> too
> > > obstructive – four
> > > > lanes of raggedy parked traffic at the red
> light,
> > > with bicycles and
> > > > pedestrians all taking up any inch of space -
> he
> > > took off the road and
> > > > went around that corner on a broad footpath!
> Hah!
> > > He did it all so
> > > > effortlessly and with such clear-eyed
> athleticism
> > > that I just sat
> > > > there and marvelled. I don't know how he
> didn't
> > > hit anybody or cause
> > > > an accident, but he did it languorously,
> driving
> > > me home quicker and
> > > > smoother than any other taxi-driving maniac in
> > > this crazy city.
> > > >
> > > > He cool
> > > > He no need no driving school
> > > > He a crazy Zen-driving fool
> > > > Playing the road like he's shooting pool …
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Andrew
> > > > http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> > > > http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
> > > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > My Stuff: http://www.badstep.net/
> > > "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious." Oscar
> Wilde
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
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> > Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos'
> Green Center.
> > http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
> >
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
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