A.J. Huffman's "Honey, You Got to Slow Down" and "Singing Without Words"

This morning I'd like to welcome poet, editor, and publisher A.J. Huffman to The Song Is...  A poem about a little red Corvette is the perfect way to begin the next to last day of the Fall semester's classes!  Perhaps the poem will inspire you to write your own poem about driving for A.J.'s upcoming anthology, Objects in the Rear View Mirror (Deadline: March 31).

Honey, You Got to Slow Down

            Inspired by Little Red Corvette by Prince.

A pocket full of horses has nothing

on the curve.  The smooth ride

of a low-ridden arch of your back,

overexaggerated by swollen

muscles that push me to the verge of being

obscene.  I am a little red, and running

myself into the ground.  Together we turn.

I end up dented beneath your wheels,

spinning in tempestuous circles.  You park me

sideways, in silhouette.

I do not understand

the levels of your body’s garage.  Gimme

the key, I am going to try to ride the sunset down

towards your knees. 

I have no desire to become another

momentary memory, notched into nothing. 

Your kiss is a breath of wind.  My lips are hell-bent

on running free.

Singing Without Words

She has not reached her first birthday,

has not conquered the brain/tongue coordination

to form a single, multi-syllabic word, and yet

this diminutive diva stands, center stage

in her playpen, screeches in tune to whatever

musical, quasi-reality nightmare is playing on TV.  As if

psychically linked with the songs she cannot possibly

understand, she breaks at appropriate intervals, changes

pitch and tone to suit her vision of another redundant cover

tune.  Minnie-Mouse-eared microphone, firmly gripped

in fist, she is the true star of this show, does not stop

as long as the orchestra plays.

A.J. Huffman has published nine solo chapbooks and one joint chapbook through various small presses. She also has two new full-length poetry collections forthcoming, Another Blood Jet (Eldritch Press) and A Few Bullets Short of Home (mgv2>publishing). She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her poetry, fiction, and haiku have appeared in hundreds of national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, Bone Orchard, EgoPHobia, Kritya, and Offerta Speciale, in which her work appeared in both English and Italian translation. She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press. www.kindofahurricanepress.com 

For your listening pleasure....

I would post Little Red Corvette, but from what I've seen, Prince is protective of his copyright.  So let's include other driving songs and songs about daughters.  In turn, I encourage you to buy songs by some of the artists I do post.

Here is Gene Clark's "Roadmaster": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50mrpvXCmME  

"The Radio Song" is another song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DYik1S27rI

"Train Leaves Here This Morning" is for all of us non-drivers, though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyTw1-N96U0

I'll (ahem) shift gears with Monk's "Boo-Boo's Birthday" (Boo-Boo was his daughter.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g960NrprKcM

And finish with a little scat from Ella Fitzgerald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbL9vr4Q2LU