9/18 In-Class Writing Excercise - Cherrylog Road

Paraphrase:
The poet arrives and sits in a car overgrown with plants in a junkyard. He continues to enter and exit different cars in the yard in various states of disrepair. The poet feels different in each car, noting the varition in heat and color. He changes in anticipation of the arrival of his girlfriend, tying the change in himself to each automobile he enters. His girlfriedn too would experience a change in herself, escaping from her life and identity in the adventures she shares with the poet in the junkyard.

Poem in Response:

Heavy bag on my back
I parked on Scenic,
noting no appropriate view,
a steep road and row of houses,
freeway below and golf course behind.

Enjoying the novelty of arrival
I stride upward, vaguely knowing
where to go, who to find
Up the road lined with asphalt
roses, and cars as nice as mine.

I knocked on the door
identical to the three I passed
before it, brown, unspecial outside,
and clearly built years before I built today.

Soft lighting from lamps
made to look like candles, I think,
I must be more beautiful in here,
and drop my burden in the bedroom

Unsure of where to sit or stand
I opened wine, pouring
two overly large glasses
Buttery Chardonnay in mismatched bowls

The couch is very long and narrow
no arms, so I sit upright
swirling the stemware,
nervousness and excitement rolling inside.