Shade tree Sam

a silly poem about cars and romance

Beneath this tree, where shade is good

I park my car and pop the hood

Spark plugs fouled--she won’t run right

I’ll scrape ‘em clean with this here knife

Got one good tire with lots of tread

The rest are may-pops, nearly dead

The tail pipe hangs from rope and wire

But sounds real good and belches fire

Carb too rich--nine miles per gallon

It costs ten bucks to drive to Fallon

Too much cash for this ol’ boy

To spend on girls and drive his toy  

Pa says man needs a woman at night

To have what he calls "good-whoopy-delight"

Romance, romance, what’s the use?

A girl’s no good when your rods are loose

Author's Note

This guy is definitely not me. I recall spending a whole January day working outside on my '54 Ford so I could take a girl to the movies that night.

Reviews

[SweetNutmeg]

Thanks for the laugh, Sam. Maybe more than his rods are loose? Or maybe he's dodging a bunch of grief? I can't resist romance, myself, and I wonder about how much grief that has caused me. Was it worth the good-whoopy-delight? lol I guess I'll never know.

Formatting on WC: it turns dashes into black diamonds with question marks in them.

[Samuel Dickens]

Thank you. I used to use a word program that worked fine, but now I'm using google documents, and the problem showed up.

[CD Campbell]

This sounds like a young man problem. Can't tell you how many times in my youth that the change in my pocket was critical for minimal success with the ladies. One minor problem with my hunk o junk could nose dive my social life. Haha. Well done poem, Sam!

[Samuel Dickens]

Thank you. I'll bet you've turned a few wrenches in the interest of romance, too.

[CD Campbell]

I have..lol

[Lorry]

Just think of all that work you put into your wheels when younger, to take all those barely remembered girls to where they wanted to be.
Not that all are so rarely remembered. I mean, even the sight of a black bra strap under a lighter coloured top takes me back to when I was fifteen and not paying attention in class to anything other than Susan's brastrap who sat directly in front of me.
I'm telling you though, if my exam was on that bra strap I'd have acted it! 😃
From all the people I went to school with, I never met her again after leaving school. Probably for the best though. At least that's what I keep telling myself! 😃

[Samuel Dickens]

Thank you. When it comes to our young selves and girls, we're cut from the same cloth.

[FlatDaddy]

I noticed you said nothing about how your evening went that night, Sam.
Could your, eh, hot rod still perform? :)
A fun poem, dude -- with a bit of tortured rhyme,* but that's okay, I still enjoyed it.

*right and knife? really?

FD :)

[Samuel Dickens]

Thanks. Yeah, I'm not much of a poet. Stories are my thing.

[FlatDaddy]

Oh, you're good at both, Sam, so good I have to twist the knife a bit when I can out of jealousy.read moreOh, you're good at both, Sam, so good I have to twist the knife a bit when I can out of jealousy.
But ... is that another twist? Hmmm ...
Sorry, when I'm on a roll I have no brakes.
But I MUST stop, while I'm behind! (sigh)

[Samuel Dickens]

Oh, I forgot to say that I did alright on that date. Too good, I guess --we got married in '68, divorced in '71, married again in '72, divorced again in '77.

[FlatDaddy]

Wait ... this is too good! Damn, I can't stop laughing! AHHAHAH! The words are short and sweet (for the reader, Sam, for the reader), the message is brief and horrifying, but it is also SO DAMN FUNNY11 AHHAHAH!
You poor damn fool.
I did something similar, but I've been married to the Real One for about 33 years now and still going.

So Sam, Mi Amigo, Meine Freund, My Friend, Good luck to you, and I am so glad you are here.

FD