NORTH COAST TIMES E A G L E, JULY 2003
PAGE 10
GREAT AMERICAN CAR
we wear our cars
glass-plastic-steel clothing
clothed in boxes
heavy as houses, plated and armored
license to drive our desires
cinema verite on rubber tires
tirelessly headed for anywhere, for nowhere
auto-motivated
we wear our cars
skins shine
straight-jackets lined
with custom upholstery
red-white-black
leather, 100% pure naugahide
inside, outside
walk
don’t walk, drive
drive your car
wear your car
graft the transmission to your brain
put the plugs in your ears
and drive
drive shaft
drive fast
faster, race
racing
tailgating
overtake and passing
wreckless,
elude a police officer
wreckless metallic beast of the nation
traffic infraction
drinking asphalt
license suspension
drinking air
habitual offender — go to jail
thousands of double-white fiery eyes
curl up on a steel cot
slicing through wheatfields
and dream
cutting the forests apart
dream of your car
to unzipped strips of blue-white sky
of a million mirrors
fly
of rear-view mirrors
fly-wheel
filled with trucks
flies on the windshield
singing songs of exhaust
afternoons running opaque under a slanted sun
and burning oil
nights spun on dark rivers of tar
harmonious fumes
car
we can never pause
war
we have no time to look
war for blood
we cannot breathe
war for business
we can drive
war
to keep us moving
in a blizzard of landscapes
moving
to gas stations
(diamond in the back)
moving 9 to 5
we can drive
moving to sheer madness
in a blur of signs
radiator, generator, alternator, accelerator
(sun roof top)
keep cool
we can drive
in a tunnel of fragments
in a fast-slow craze
of constant red-rosary bead taillights
votive candles of empty nights
with the windows rolled down
and the wind whippin in
pullin out, streaming out
when your hood flips up
and the jack in the box pops up
asking you for proof of insurance
keep cool
and use your horn
to warn other drivers
when you're completely out of control
slow down
before entering
metaphysical,
transmeditational,
sexual curves
but never forget to wear your car
daily
like a vitamin
daily
like a prayer
like a universal/differential/manifold/shock-absorber
because the world’s a scary place
we cruise through
we loose through
on the highways,
biways,
skyways, your way, my way
wearing our cars
wearing our general motors mason jars
our chebby Chevrolets
our macho machines
our duel-injection erection machines
with gabardine pants, a gold watch
and a cigar in your mouth
with pantyhose, lipstick and a perm
with all the cosmetic wonders
in a stop-go maze
the cheeseburger wrappers and beer cans
pullin out the condoms, the radio kingdom of billy graham
pullin out road maps and wedding rings
pullin out st. Christopher and all kinds of things
pullin out the half-thought thoughts
the twice feared fears
the profiles of tears
the cigarette silence
for years of miles
along the road
made of cars
tattooed in rust
tattooing the earth
with long indelible scars
lined with weeds and dust
we wear our cars
our polished cases of velocity
strapped to mechanical necessity
and all is visible and elusive
all so near, yet can't be touched
hypnotized deep by the yellow ribbon
hypnotized deep in the middle of an eye
into a blank stare
staring back
wearing black
our cars
glistening
listening
in a closet of vanishing echoes
through streets of instantaneous architecture
of instantaneous cars
cars
junkyard carcasses
carpal tunnel syndrome on the steering wheel
carmen miranda on a dashboard veranda
carnal desire for a jaguar
carhop fill er up with a rootbeer float
carnivorous soul, freeway to everything
cartoon-axle pointed straight at the moon
carios, muchacho you look fine in that gran torina-el camino
carbon cop — 4x4’s multiplying to infinity,
aerial view of used carlots on t.v.
cardinal virtues: gears, brakes, pistons, points
of a motorized destiny
bumper to bumper
like words of an endless sentence
sentenced to speed
talking at 80 miles and hour
and over the limit
wearing our cars
our sacred cars
our holy cars
in cars we trust cars
hallelujah
amen
-JUANITA HUEBNER
WE CAN START...
Fear, ever present, surrounds us, thick with heaviness, choking out light
We can resist.
Greed, ever present, slimy and slick, coaxes us to sell our souls and buy, buy, buy.
We will resist.
We can start by turning a deaf ear to the misinformation that permeates the sound waves.
We can start by recognizing that our leaders only want to "sound-bite’' problems for they have
no intention of actively seeking solutions because they perceive that if the people gain, they lose.
We can start by looking inward and repairing our own inner damage.
Hatred, ever present, beseeches us to harden our hearts against those who are different.
We must resist.
We can start by looking around our neighborhood and finding ways to help each other survive;
nay, flourish.
Fear, Greed, Hate Hate, Fear, Greed. Greed, Hate, Fear
We can start by picking a problem, any problem in our community, and find creative solutions.
This is our culture's chant, repeated over and over and over and over, relentlessly bombarding
all aspects of our lives and the lives of our CHILDREN until our minds, our hearts and our spirits
are numb.
The time is now to create a new chant. Perhaps it could be
Love, Respect, Peace. Respect, Peace. Love. Peace, Love, Respect.
We can start by mending one of the myriad tears in the fabric of our society's so-called safety
net that is full of holes.
We can start by refusing to be shrouded in the tatters and rags the elite would have us wear.
We can start by praying or meditating on Love, Respect and Peace.
Respect, called forth, illuminates the worth of all beings.
Love, brilliantly radiating from each of us envelopes the world, nurturing all
Peace gives space to creatively untangle the web of destruction that ensnares us.
The loudest cheerleaders of our current cultural chant are the powermongers who,
under their rules, only gain if we, the people, lose, for ours is truly government of the rich,
for the rich and by the rich.
We can start by honestly and openly asking the hard questions that may point out the paths we
need to take to find real solutions for real people.
We can start by trimming our egos and reaching out to our opponents and find out who they
really are.
The time is now to change the rules Perhaps they could be that everyone and everything wins.
We can start by greeting each person we meet with a smile and giving them our undivided
attention, in the name of Mary Elizabeth.
Imagine a world where those who give the most are the ones most admired and revered.
We can start by honoring our own true nature and the true nature of all around us.
Imagine a world where every child, woman and man is full — full of food, full of love, full of
health.
We can start by using our gifts and our talents to assist the whole.
We can start by doing what we love, doing whatever works for us in our lives.
Imagine a world where the very Earth that sustains all life is nurtured back.
Yes you say, I want a new chant. I want new rules. I want to live in this imagined world
But how are going to get there?
We can start by holding the space so that when maelstrom has finally passed there will be
somewhere to start anew.
We can start by preparing the ground so that the new crops are rooted firmly in fertile, rich soil.
We can start by believing that it is possible
We can start by using our incredible powers of creativity to image Peace, Love and Respect
We can start by staying strong and not giving in to the despair that so easily overwhelms us
in these Orwellian times
We can start by unplugging ourselves from the media stream, which is the currency that keeps
us subdued
We can start where we are and make any movement we can towards a Respectful, Peaceful,
Loving world.
-BARBARA McLAUGHLIN
Barbara McLaughlin and her husband Chuck live in Wheeler. They have long been
political activists for peace.