Shopping Cart
    items

      ←

      December 23, 2022The Candy-Apple Red-Orange 1949 Ford Hot Rod Custom Cruiser Says GoodbyeGuinotte Wise

      We called it a lead sled
      low and slow, but it was
      only one of those. It would
      do 100 with no exertion.
      Chopped and lowered
      headers and pipes let you know
      it was around, like a summer
      storm announces itself
      not always unwelcome
      painted red-orange like an
      aging hussy with too much
      rouge, but floor that sucker
      and it was young again
      ready for the night, the
      streets, a show-off drag with
      a fancy Ram pickup whose
      driver was open-mouthed in
      the rearview mirror, or slow
      maneuvers around the town
      square. A rebuilt ’88 Mercury
      under the hood, carbureted.
      A kid behind the wheel, a kid
      from the fifties who wanted
      a do-over, a mulligan, just one
      more shot at all of it again.
      The blue-dot taillights said
      goodbye as it slowed to turn
      the corner to old yesterdays.
      Good horses, dogs and hot
      rod cars are truly missed.

      from #77 - Fall 2022

      Guinotte Wise

      “I had a ’49 Ford in high school, primered, lowered, heads, carbs, pipes, etc. Very Rebel Without a Cause. But I did well in English class. And I liked poetry. That was 67 years ago. I never gave up writing and I acquired another ’49 Ford along the way, and it underwent a lot of changes, like me. But it got beautiful. I sold it this year, and as the new owner slowed at the corner, the (illegal) bluedot taillights flickered at me. I went in and wrote this poem.”

      →

      Related