Poem: Demi Caper (with apologies to Emily Dickinson)

I've probably written about thirty poems since my 9th grade English assignment in 1986. The majority of them don't really hold up beyond the adolescent mentality and a few of them are downright embarrassing. But Demi Caper is one of the rarities that I'm comfortable showing some twenty years later.

Curiously enough, this was the ONLY time I was ever able to write a poem from top to bottom in one sitting and leave it virtually untouched as a finished product.

 

 

Demi Caper

Because Life could not stop, indeed,
I kindly stopped for him.
His carriage shot the limit's speed
And vanished in a whim.

I waited patiently in daze.
How soon will he appear?
And how shall I attract his gaze
To know that I am here?

Not long. He came careening fast,
Descending from the hill.
I waved my arms. He drove on past
And left me standing still.

I brushed the dust off of my face
And pulled my thoughts in mode.
When next I find him in this place
I'll stand and block his road.

He barreled wildly, swift and free
When I stood in his way.
That bastard drove right over me
And tanked me in the clay.

Then to my feet! I chased his track,
Sweat seeping through my socks.
I caught his fender on the back
(And dragged for seven blocks).

I hauled my carcass by his side
And banged my fingers sore.
"You stop this coach! I want a ride!
Unlock the carriage door!"

"The carriage never slows," he said,
"And you've no claim to ease.
But grasp the reins from overhead
And guide us where you please."