i measure time
‘til the satnav falls again
and think about that van Gogh
painting, street café by
night, which makes me
wanna go to Paris & reminds me,
i am not yet there–
i don’t have to drive,
but i’m responsible for navigation,
(always a bad deal–),
streets are beehive busy, dark clouds
in fierce contest with the cement &
my eyes– well i try to keep
them open, “did you know,
white sharks eat their brothers
while still in the uterus, which
means, each shark is a murderer
before birth”
“oh–”, i
swallow & then google it
because i don’t believe, and
while i do, listen to the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets, “i think
we have to turn,
then take the other exit–” PhlopP!
the satnav falls again &
as it hits the dashboard,
i jot one more mark onto my list
of things that crash a myriad times
but magically keep on leading you
the correct way
.
yep…it’s OpenLinkNight again at dVerse – and the party starts at 3pm EST…come, write a poem and join us..
um…interesting on the sharks…but that ties well with a business trip…haha…lots of sharks out there in the business world…and with traffic for sure….would love to be in Paris…or even just get a chance to visit…sweet ending on the things…or people that fall and still lead us in the right direction….
Once again you take something we do each day and breath magic into it.
There you are, thinking of a wonderful street scene in Paris, while navigating the treacherous concrete and companion tells the startling stark shark tale–Good Heavens! So grateful to reach the last stanza where one can mark the myriad of falling things that magically steer our course correctly. Loved how you spooled this one out so naturally; I felt as though I was along for the ride, too.
Me, too, Claudia! I was seeing what you see, and feeling also. And thinking.
Guess sharks are born with full tummy, maybe even bellyache? Wonder how the decision is made–who eats whom?
Falling stuff–people–can lead us on the right road. Like as in, “God can write a straight line, with a crooked pen”…was a long time before I realized the crooked pen was me. Ha!
LOVE your work, envy those business trips (sometimes!)
Your travel poems are sublime Claudia.
Excellent poetry again.
M
Wonderfully done!
Very nice. Really fun abstract thoughts and images mixed in here, Not sure what Satnav is, but I’m thinking perhaps something like a metronome, will have to look it up though. But the up down, motions of the lines, and that shark one, really sticks out, murderer before birth, so many cool possibilities that one can conjure. Excellent write. Love how your trips always inspire you so.
Oh, I’d love to visit Paris again….clever poem & images…the sharks were great! I’ll have to go look that up
Wonderful writing, as always 
I’m not a great fan of satnav, but I like this poem very much. It has a very sweet feel to it, and I like the double-checking even as you follow and listen. You describe so well the way the mind works. k.
The rat race sure has shark infested waters, looks like you swan away and held your own.
I have a gps that I can attach to my dash too. Really love it most of the time, but right in the middle of some difficult navigation it will crash to the floorboard too. Especially when it is very hot outside or very cold! Lately I’ve not bothered with it, but have used the gps ap on the I-phone. Never crashes to the floorboard, though less easy to see! But yes, I see the symbolism in your poem. Some things do continue to crash as they lead us and somehow we end up where we should be.
Ha. Had to smile. Love how you touch a simple, common experience and elevate it to poetic heaven. Hope you arrived okay.
Oh, I’ve read some of these GPS things have led people right up the wrong roads and some even led them to drive right into rivers. LOL
I love the way you take a boring car drive and turn it into poetry. The tires making noise on the roads and such.
Amazing gift with your imagination and of course, words.
a magical trip! Thank you.
this has wonderful flow to it, like a well-navigated trip – realistic too, the conversation, the satnav falling (& resulting epiphany)… i love
the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets
A magical trip indeed! Satnav’s are such a pain–unsticking and tumbling, usually onto my knee or some other unprotected area.
LOVED “The tires intimately rub their cheeks against concrete” and “one more thing that crash a myriad times, but magically keep on leading you the right way” Absolutely beautiful
You make even confusion poetic, Claudia, and the nugget about the white sharks interjected takes the whole piece to a different place. Excellent stuff.
I love that ending, Claudia!
for years, i had a print of that same van gogh hanging on my wall, until i gave it to my daughter… it’s still one of my favorites of his… that light makes me just want to step into the picture, which i say only because that is also the way your poems make me feel…
I loved this, especially the implication I goT which was: maps are merely for suggestion only.
Oh my, ‘white sharks eat their brothers.” Now your pulling magical lines out of the fantastic poetic hat of yours. A great read, Claudia.
Well, I certainly agree with Brian, about the sharks and a business trip. Definitely belongs.. Your trips for pleasure or for business make them so real, Claudia…I’m there with you in the moment. This one, as well. They just seem to flow from you like huge waterfalls of words. Cheers, girl…!
On family trips I am always in charge of navigation – I agree it’s a bad deal – especially when for years I had only maps and no GPS as my guide. This was a great peak into the driving part of a trip, made all the more tangible by the side comment about the sharks. Just the kind of conversation that might occur between co-workers forced to be in a car together for a long drive. Peace, Linda
and think about that van Gogh
painting, street café by
night, which makes me
wanna go to Paris & reminds me
i am not yet there–…………………..last June I was there yet it seems so long ago and I saw some gorgeous Van Gogh paintings which delighted me. This took me there for a minute and I thank you for that. Love this…interesting about the sharks…I have caught some fishing in the Florida keys and released them back into the ocean. Enjoyed this
Ohh just the very mention of Paris and I’m right there strolling down the Champs Elysee – I’ll keep my eye out for those sharks tho – love how you share your wonderful trips Claudia – takes me right there everytime – hugs Lib
The satnav, as you call it, is the leading recipient of my ire and bad language. I hate that thing.
Nice one, Claudia!
“streets are beehive busy, dark clouds
in fierce contest with the cement &
my eyes–”
and
“listen to the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets,”
I love how we are still on concrete streets, despite the falling analog and poor visibility and sleepiness and Paris! I looked up satnav–satellite navigation device–for other dinosaurs who would prefer to lose our way; but I may have to get the phone to be able to look up the cannibal sharks and other obstacles who cross in front of me like black cats or country deer.
I hate being responsible for navigation as I am poor at this. I would rather gaze at the scenery. I like the ending lines, finding where we are, hopefully at the right place. Happy day ~
We have built in GPS in our car, only as good as the programming and since it was installed before 2006 any new neighborhoods and streets don’t show up. (At over $200 for new disc to update, its never quite gotten done.) I’ve always been good with a map though. Navigated us through Dublin to catch the Fast Ferry to Wales on our first trip to Ireland- foreign country, driving on the opposite side from our norm, and still made it! Loved your story Claudia. Have been there with trying to stay awake, when even an odd story can get your attention and keep your mind alert that much longer. Thanks for sharing this!
There MUST be something momentous happening in Paris..it seems to be sneaking into many of our poems today in fact, or sublinially. Enjoyed your trip and the ending (as with every voyage) brought the brilliantly unexpected to such a perfect conclusion!
Thanks for this one Claudia, you had me laughing inside, I SO know that blinking Sat Nav falling off thing! But particularly like this:
‘while i do, listen to the sound of tires,that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets’
Really great write
hey claudia – cool write – i’m a back seat driver… a nagging sat nav co pilot… usually getting lost
… you go to all the right places!!! 
Good Evening – I like the fact that you are able to capture rawness in an abstract view to your surroundings.
I love this imagery “dark clouds
in fierce contest with the cement”
and the ending to the poem, which makes me stop and think.
Tires that intimately rub their cheeks with city streets – what a brilliant turn of phrase! I love that one.
Claudia … yes, you have “magically lead me the correct way” and what a way it was … for some reason your shark story reminded me of my mosquito story, about which I penned a haiku. This was a great ride BUT … what is a satnav?
I use GPS , but have been known to turn off quite frequently since I enjoy the scenic routes. I turn it back on as we get closer. I cannot repeat here what we call ours (her) sometimes lol! Thanks for taking us along. Enjoyed your write.
Lovely. I especially like:
“the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets”
{Ami}
http://sundrysumthins.wordpress.com
I love this section:
“&
my eyes– well i try to keep
them open, ‘did you know,
white sharks eat their brothers
while still in the uterus, which
means, each shark is a murderer
before birth/”
Enjoyed that piece as always Claudia, especially the great images in the lines
“while i do, listen to the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets,…”
loved reading your words…taking me to another world…
“white sharks eat their brothers
while still in the uterus, which
means, each shark is a murderer
before birth”….you are amazing…thank you for visiting my humble world…and the warm welcome to dVerse
I like quirky snapshots of life…and you deliver them with finese.
but i’m responsible for navigation,
(always a bad deal–)…
can relate with u very well there..
Concluding lines were superb !!
Sharks do it while still in the womb! They would be at each other’s throat. That could cause a lot of tummy ache for mummy in the process. Well crafted, Claudia!
Hank
Isn’t it strange, the things that occur in the midst of our doing the most mundane things…the details here give it an otherworldly atmosphere–the poetic ambience, I guess, that is there no matter where you get your direction. Another interesting and artful work. Nice job.
while i do, listen to the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets, “i think
Lovely line quite creative…
http://chaigaramchai.blogspot.in/2012/06/burial-of-his-dead-heart.html
I love the journey you take us on, Claudia. with your mind eve- presently hopping from the satnav to your thoughts… to the cement, to sharks and google, back to the streets. a fun romp-about poem that makes me want to travel.~jane
i don’t have to drive but i do have to navigate – wow – so true – also wise
words: some things that crash in front of us lead us onto our path.
‘magically’ you lead the reader through another Claudia honeycomb… love how you net a cloud of life and frame it..feel van Gogh would approve
“listen to the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets” oooh love this!
Enjoyed the ride
It’s a wonder there are so many sharks, fancy eating one another before birth… good heavens, nasty beasts.
At least it’s not “are we there yet?”!
I love humanity of this, the imPlications of knowing where we are in life, which this poem makes deeper perhaps than seeing a map. Being lost gets dOne on so many levels, like Van Gogh painting a street scene but losing his mental bearings, probably his touch with so-called normal reality. The shark thing is weird too as it pulls us into another world which only science can discover but that too – where does the factoid leave us knowing who or where we are? The ending is simPly superb.
“the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets”
I am blown away by these words, in this order. I bow down to you.
Cheers,
M
This one hit me in the gut (I had to disect a shark in college with all her babies still inside – so disturbing). I would defend sharks over business people but then I worked in healthcare risk management! Made me want to go to Paris and on a road trip. Wonderful as usual.
Loved this one. So profound!
So luv yr tales Claudia such a distinct vision
A visual treat of words.
You have a wonderful way with metaphor and the visual element is strong and kicking.
There is a lightness in this that is delightful, and the ending gives out such a ray of hope.
(I had to look up the word satnav. I thought it a new form of something.
Lady Nyo
every time i read you, its like im taking a journey to places ive never been, might be a little afraid to go, but cant wait to get there.
thank you claudia.
I am visiting in CA but always have time to have a side trip with you. Thank You!
I’m late to the party, Claudia, and it’s all been said, but I must express my sincere admiration for this poem,which is so beautifully crafted that it took my breath away – specially the final stanza.
Once more I am taken through so much vision…you excel at vibrancy through poetry love, awe inspiring! xoxo
“while i do, listen to the sound of tires, that
intimately rub their cheeks with
concrete streets, “i think
we have to turn,
then take the other exit–” PhlopP!”
Hi! Claudia…
Tks, for the journey…through your very poetic words… after 15 miles, turn right and follow– /snapshot from a business trip
deedee