Elinor Nauen edited LADIES, START YOUR ENGINES: Women writers on cars & the road (Faber & Faber, 1996) and is the author of a book of poems, American Guys (Hanging Loose, 1996).




Old Habits Die Young


Here I am
opinions & all!


Tell the County Librarian to Shut Up


My forthcoming work
in 5 volumes
The Neglect of Cheese in European Literature
is a work of such unprecedented & raucous
detail that it is doubtful
I shall live
to finish
it.




The Old Tools


The joke is Johnny
but he's no joke
rather: a myth in my heart
tethered to such nether regions
as embody him when he's not poised
on the highway
waving down
a blonde in a red corvette
or changing a lightbulb
with the help of 52 Norwegians. Johnny lies
at home
in bed
one arm in the war
waiting.







Counting the Hats & Ducks


What I have in my pocket:
a pocket comb
a pocket knife
a pocket terror
a rocket scientist
a common loon
the loan of a commando, with many thanks
my hands
his hands
his undying etceteras
the best of dimes, the best of dollars
the lounge chair that blew off the dock in last night's gale
the verdict
pesto & italian bread
sunlight soap, sun worship, son of man, sun fever, someone else's passport
a small but well-chosen scientific library
the longing of a tender heart for word from her beloved





Double Trundle



Hear that lonesome whistle blow
And the cowboy who loved you so true
That's a devil not a man
That's the difference between god & me
I'm crazy for crying & crazy for trying & crazy for lying & crazy for spying
& crazy




Not Not Knot It



Roman torture, & the American third degree
Require a deftness the likes of which is seldom seen
By professional harpooners of whales. Not that you
Would know, dear. Not that I would stutter, darling.
Only your teeth drag on the ground. I wish I wish
The perfect mustache would hurry up & get itself
Invented. I knew a girl could tie a cherry stem
In a knot with her teeth. I am that girl. I confess.

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