Beginning with a Line Heard at a Poetry Reading
A Southern man will drive you anywhere,
That is, assuming it would be all right.
He has a full tank, Corn Nuts, and a spare.
Although he might not dance like Fred Astaire,
He knows where not to run a yellow light.
A Southern man will drive you anywhere,
Not just to Wal-Mart or the county fair,
But reservoirs where large and small-mouth bite.
He has a full tank, Corn Nuts, and a spare,
The mounted tires rotated, checked for air—
To offer less would hardly be polite.
A Southern man will drive you anywhere:
His F-150’s kept in good repair
And hand-washed every week, a solemn rite.
He has a full tank, Corn Nuts, and a spare.
The mud-flap girl is neither here nor there.
It’s you he wants to chauffeur day and night.
A Southern man will drive you anywhere.
He has a full tank, Corn Nuts, and a spare.
J.D. Smith‘s poems have appeared in several previous issues of Light, and his first humor collection, Notes of a Tourist on Planet Earth, which includes both poetry and prose, was published in March 2013. His third poetry collection, Labor Day at Venice Beach, was published in 2012. He buys insurance only from fellow mammals.