Ode To A Mustang Convertible Poem by linda barrett


@2016 Linda Barrett

The chrome pony racing along your side
Indicates to me
you're not a placid family car
Only suited for supermarket trips.
Climbing into you,
I slam your streamlined scarlet door
around me
Your metal feels strong,
not plastic like the other cars
A hatch backed pony car
from a more confident time
Mid-1960's stylish power,
You are one of a kind:
first introduced at the 1964 World's Fair
the fairest of them all from Ford's line
I thrust my key into your ignition
Jerk on the gear shift on your steering wheel
from Park into Drive
Your V-8 engine roars into life
deep from within your elongated hood
You coast down the smaller streets
flashing grace and elegance from
your fiery form
flame red metal ignites
the neighborhood's green surroundings
I shift your gears with my hand
by grasping your stick shift
You take me from zero to sixty
within seconds
hurled out in slingshot fashion
from the Turnpike's ramp.
Zooming faster and faster,
your forceful velocity
pushes me back
Into your black vinyl seat's embrace.
Ford 1964 ½ Mustang,
you are the speeding fireball
zipping in and out of traffic
giving your owner
the ride of his life.