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Ted Reynolds
Member
since 1999-12-15
Posts 331


0 posted 2000-03-27 04:15 PM


                         THE AMISH BUGGY

We're going to be late and so we push a little harder and
we're dashing down the road at over eighty miles an hour and
our tires screech on the curves as the air booms past the windows and
we swing around the bend and
brake and
Damn!
there's a
black
flat-topped
box
like a
coffin
in
the way
and
it's pulled
very
slowly
by an old
black
nag
and the driver
is in black
and
the woman
is in black
and
the kids
are in black
and
they look
straight ahead
as we cautiously
edge past them and
then push down on the pedal and
dash on to leave them plodding far behind us in the dust and hurry off
to where we're going where we'll probably be late for getting everything we want
although we don't know what it is, but it is possible that maybe

we just missed it.




[This message has been edited by Ted Reynolds (edited 03-28-2000).]

© Copyright 2000 Ted Reynolds - All Rights Reserved
jbouder
Member Elite
since 1999-09-18
Posts 2534
Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash
1 posted 2000-03-27 04:29 PM


Ted:

I really enjoyed this poem and its message.  I'm pretty sure that I won't be giving up electricity anytime soon but I'm not confusing the disdain Amish have for technology with your message.  I can't count the number of times I've been stuck behind an Amish buggy in a no-passing zone on my way to work (I do live in Lancaster, PA, after all) and I recall having many of the same thoughts you express in your poem.  Your format compliments the fast then slow then fast again movement of the car and the last line, as it is written, has a good bit of impact for me.

Strong work, Ted.  Thanks for the read.

Jim

tom
Member
since 2000-01-26
Posts 90
s/w penna u.s.a.
2 posted 2000-03-27 06:24 PM


Ted

Cool format,I found myself gettin anise in the middle,also good message.

   tom

SuZi
New Member
since 2000-03-25
Posts 8
Louisville, KY
3 posted 2000-03-31 01:54 AM


Loved the imagery. I can feel the slowing down and edging by and the speeding on.
It all works so well together.

Great  
SuZi

captaincargo
Member
since 1999-11-25
Posts 109
Corning, N.Y. U.S.A.
4 posted 2000-03-31 10:13 AM


This was simply the coolest thing I've read in awhile.(no foolin) What else can I say but, I loved it!

The slow fast format was the kicker. Especially the last line when you slowed it "back down" to 33 1/3 one more time.  

Thanks.

Cap.

 Cap. Carg.

Ted Reynolds
Member
since 1999-12-15
Posts 331

5 posted 2000-03-31 10:41 AM


Thank you all.  I'm jumping up and down (invisibly, I'm at work) and shouting (inaudibly) "It worked, it worked!"  I've never been able to write good free verse, I need *some* kind of structure; but it occurred to me that it doesn't have to be a *constant* metre, and the idea of a metre that shifts with the nature of the content excites me.  I'll be posting another such (but of a quite different nature) later today.  After I've seen what the rest of you are doing.

[This message has been edited by Ted Reynolds (edited 03-31-2000).]

whipsnade
Junior Member
since 2000-02-28
Posts 40

6 posted 2000-04-01 07:50 AM


Very Nice
I like the tight economy of phrase and thought with which you put me in the driver's seat and in his  mind with the  closing wistful observation.
        "Write On"
                     Ricardo

kaile
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Ascendant
since 2000-02-06
Posts 5146
singapore
7 posted 2000-04-05 03:29 AM


good work---i can actually find myself speed-reading and then slowing to read cautiously and then speed-reading again while reading your work...i believe this is actually the first time i find myself getting excited and then calming down WITHIN THE SAME POEM ")

BTW,what's an Amish Buggy?do educate me a little

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