Around the Bend (1013 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Fiction
Rating: 2 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by fireclown (View user info) at 2005-02-08 13:15:19 EST
words may fail though spoken true,
especially these words to you
for what i deeply wish to say
in gentle silence must remain
rueful roses ever sleeping
hoping for refreshing rain
waiting for some sunny day
that never comes
unchained our words don't matter much;
with flair, without- may lightly touch
but locked in still and silent poses
rain nor sun will wake these roses
things which must be left unsaid
lie quietly asleep in bed...
forbidden love,
unending dream
the sleeping roses
bury me
There was no reception here in the middle of nowhere.
Nome eased up on the gas as he noticed the speedometer pushing ninety. The 289 droned its happy song, clicking impertinently. They hadn't gotten the valves adjusted quite right last time. Still, it was good to be able to work on your own car in the back yard, or in a cheap motel's parking lot. Just changing the oil in those new models was a bitch. Yeah, '65 Mustangs ruled, he decided. "Whaddaya say, Angel, do these old ponies rule, or what?"
Angel nodded assent and fired up another doob. With languid grace she passed it, exhaling a rainbow. "How we doin' on fuel, doll?"
Nome checked the gauge: an eighth over empty, as it had been for ... how long? It seemed as if he and Angel had been cruising this highway for hours, or days— endless identical days. Again this day the sun sailing high smiled on golden fields stretched into the haze of horizon, and the endless road promised a respite from its arrow's flight, just ahead in the distance. He wondered if the scene would be different once they went around that bend. Funny how they never seemed to get there. The featureless face of bright, unhurried sky reminded him in majestic silence that it didn't matter anyway.
"You okay driving, hon?"
"Yeah, no worries, I'm good."
"Cool. I wanna rest my eyes a while." She blew him a lingering kiss, clambering deftly into the back seat. "Keep it on the road, ya hear?"
Nome rolled his eyes and grinned an acknowledgement, his gaze caressing her fondly as her familiar touch left his shoulder. "Hey, pass me a cold one while you're back there, OK?"
"Comin' up!"
"Thanks, Angel. Sleep tight."
Nome drew the can's dewy coolness across his forehead and then drained half the contents in habitual style. The first of the day was always the best. The cold brew cut the cotton as he finished the joint.
Damn if I'm not feelin' absolutely fine, he thought. This land is just perfect, glorious.
The blacktop maps an inexorable flight through the panoramic fields, starkly dividing and defining the seasoned stewardship of invisible hands. His stallion, unerring and valiant, courses with a jubilant, steady rhythm, rushing him and his lady love to some golden future— away from unpleasant history, away from faded images in rotting cardboard boxes, away from the home that never was.
He tried the dial again, and still there was nothing but static. Yet there was music in his heart, so it was all good.
A last swallow and the crumpled can smacks a speed limit sign. "Bulls-eye!" he shouts.
"Ah, shit. Sorry, babe ..." he trailed off, turning.
The back seat is empty, while on the floorboard only a disintegrating styrofoam cooler and an old, ugly-yellow suitcase sleep peacefully.
Reality intrudes again. I steer my gaze to the highway once more, and to the bend just ahead in the distance.
I guess I'll go around it by myself.
User Reviews
Submitted by corn_nugget (user info) at 2007-12-19 13:21:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Haunting
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2005-03-16 15:55:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2005-02-08 18:38:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
I really like this. It's hard to find anything on Uber these days that makes me pay close attention, or even want to... this accomplished both.
Submitted by Istaros (user info) at 2005-02-18 18:02:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
harlots! everywhere HARLOTS!
and harlequins
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-12 17:14:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
This is the best party I've ever been to
Don't let me die with that silly look in my eyes
-- Faith No More
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-10 20:38:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It's always funny until someone gets hurt...
And then it's just hilarious!
-- Faith No More
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2005-02-08 18:38:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I really like this. It's hard to find anything on Uber these days that makes me pay close attention, or even want to... this accomplished both.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2005-02-08 17:47:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
What you need is to be 'down with the kids.'
No, jesus, not like that. Put it away man.
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-08 17:37:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i just noticed i recently used the phrase "tinkered with" which means i am hopelessly out of touch with the hip, 'with it' talk. i think i'll make me a jet snowblower and then i'll feel better.
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-08 17:35:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
dammit! we don't have any meese around here at all.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2005-02-08 17:10:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No, no....I said *moose*....
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-02-08 16:11:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:57:07 (#)
Ranking: 2
Well...ok.
289's were in '65's. However, if he had to constantly adjust the valves, it would lead you to believe that it was a high performance engine with a loose valve lash. It's very possible to do, but building a high performance 289 is like strapping a jet engine to a snow blower.
Oh my lord that would rule SO fucking hard it isn't even funny. But I don't have a snowblower, andneither does anyone else in this silly state. So I'll just languish, wishing for a jet engine that I could strap to a golf cart instead.
Submitted by Pentameter (user info) at 2005-02-08 15:12:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fucking excellent.
I really really love this piece.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:57:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well...ok.
289's were in '65's. However, if he had to constantly adjust the valves, it would lead you to believe that it was a high performance engine with a loose valve lash. It's very possible to do, but building a high performance 289 is like strapping a jet engine to a snow blower.
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:47:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
i'll take my tent down pretty soon, but:
TigerLilly--thanks, that really means a lot. i actually tinkered with this story until it drove me crazy. i thought i had it about right, decided i had to just post it. glad you liked it!
BOB--go ahead and comment if you like. hope i didn't goof too bad, like no 289 in the '65?
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:42:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I've read this three times. I love it.
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:42:14 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
whoops, been giving out a bunch of plus 2's today...
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:41:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
well, thanks filthy, i just spewed tea all over my screen. oh, by the way, i want to slather you in treacle and lick it off you slowly, teasingly, until you tell finally me what treacle is.
wookie... thanks, man.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:40:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The poetry had a -2, then I continued on. I could make a couple of picky gear-head comments, but I'll let it stand.
Submitted by satchel (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:40:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Wonderful.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2005-02-08 14:25:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Jesus christ, fetch me a noose.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:59:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You're too good for Uber.
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:45:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
thanks. but really, c'mon people--there's a story buried underneath the poem. of course, the story may be just as bad....
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:35:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i imagine this is a first attempt at poetry, the rhyming scheme sucks. but, i'll give you a plus two because you're going to get railed for not putting that this is poetry in the title... at least, you used to...
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:32:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by WhatTheHell (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:26:08 (#)
Ranking: 1
The FONZ likes Tiger Lilly though...
Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
----
Mmmuuuuaaaahhhh ;)
Submitted by WhatTheHell (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:26:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
The FONZ likes Tiger Lilly though...
Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:20:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
But I do.
Submitted by WhatTheHell (user info) at 2005-02-08 13:16:00 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
The Fonz hates poetry...
http://www.ubersite.com/m/59033