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Friday, June 24, 2011

Epiphany in a Parking Lot

It didn’t even occur to me that I was sick the past few days, as I slept a great deal and spent the waking periods in physical discomfort. Preceding all of this were a couple of unusual events: first, I cleaned house like mad in a late spring-cleaning frenzy, and second, I had two incidents of intense nausea. The latter I attributed to low blood sugar and the former I blamed for the ensuing physical discomfort, although what house-cleaning has to do with gastrointestinal distress, I don’t have a clue.

Then Wednesday evening, a friend mentioned her husband had been laid low by some sort of contagious bug. A friend of his had suffered from it earlier and apparently passed it on. I asked what the symptoms were and learned they were precisely what I was experiencing.

I guess I’ve been sick. But I seem to have slept as much as my body can take for now, so I tackled a poem that I’ve been wanting to post here, about an epiphany I had in a parking lot recently. With a little whack, whack, it has become a tale told in 55 words, as required by the Friday Flash 55 club hosted by the world-renowned G-Man, Mr. Knowitall Himself. Hie thee over there to see how succinctly people can tell stories.

The sign on the van
DEL MONTE MEAT CO.
with its giant capital M on MEAT
like a shark’s yawning mouth

made me remember how badly
you wanted to devour me
on our first date

and there at the Mobil gas station
I realized I escaped
in the nick of time
oh so long ago



About the photo: Just an odd sculpture I saw on my trek to Northern California last month.

22 comments:

Monkey Man said...

Sounds like there is more to this story than 55 words allow. But 55's let us readers fill in the blanks.

Brian Miller said...

escaped? i dunno, i might not have tried too hard...smiles. fun 55. hope you feel better chris...

RNSANE said...

Oh, so many of us escaped on those first dates! Memories, memories!

G-Man said...

Boy oh Boy Chris...
This sure has an Animalistic Power to it.
I Loved it.
Thanks for thinking about The Friday Funfest whilst being sick.
You are Wonderful.
Please have a Kick Ass Week-End

Magpie said...

Sorry you've been under the weather. Hope you're on the mend. I'm glad you made your escape...if it was the right thing to do. :)

e said...

I hope you're on the mend. I saw some beautiful sunflowers in the market and thought of you.

Pranavam Ravikumar said...

Nice...!

Alice Audrey said...

Sounds like a lucky escape. Well, from the guy, if not from the bug.

Steve Isaak said...

Solid versifying.

Lou said...

Did you grab a Slurpee on your way out? No one leaves a gas station without something to eat or drink anymore.

the walking man said...

Some cuts of meat taste better than others and some escapes are not as good as others. We were so much younger then. And now we understand what a good cut of meat means to the palate.

Peter Goulding said...

Both the poem and the photo raise a lot of questions. As good poetry and photography should.

Scott M. Frey said...

gosh, I hope ya get to feeling better!!

great 55, always leaves me wondering, thinking, imagining :-)

my 55 is here: www.sobernuggets.blogspot.com

hedgewitch said...

I knew that guy--or his clone. Excellently and vividly built little 55--works in all ways.

Hope you feel better soon--I too am sickened by housecleaning, but its all the chems in the cleaning products for me--or just that I hate it. ;_)

Titus said...

Get Well Soon!
Enjoyed the 55; dark, dark.

Belinda said...

Ahh, I thought that sculpture looked familar. It's somewhere in the wine country!

Glad you escaped. Many others aren't so lucky and are ashamed to admit it.

Kavita said...

Aaahhh.. instincts!! They come in real hand at times.. don't they?! :)

Loved this one, my friend...

Maude Lynn said...

Perfect 55! I've dodged a few such bullets in my time, too.

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

prayers.
get well soon...

lovely 55.

Vinay Leo R. said...

ah! just in time huh? :D

Anonymous said...

That's a really cute and groovy poem. Plus, the sculpture is pretty cool also--I could take him home with me :)

Linda
http://blueskiescloudydays.blogspot.com/

Syd said...

Being devoured is fun as long as the teeth don't sink in too far.