Saturday, November 5, 2011

Scarlet's a Bushwacker (Poem)

Scarlet's a Bushwacker

There could never be a silver bullet
        for poor Miss Scarlet O'Hara.

Just imagine what a heart stopper
        that end would have been, leaving

her dandy Rhett Butler to take his
        southern comfort elsewhere,

to drown his sorrows in bourbon
        and coke down at the Blue Lagoon,

pretending he was trying to forget
        his sweetest young angel's kiss.

She was like a bad habit, that one,
        a knockout but a troubled lone star

used to dreaming about some French
        connection on whom she could turn

a single eye like a gimlet, boring in on dry
        red lips for a chance at that Parisian

fool's gold. Every gentle Ben for as far as you
        could see would fall for her, always on

Cinco de Mayo, when she, dressed up in black
        velvet, batted those long lashes like

the femme fatale she put on. But she'd invite
        no cowboy back to her Casa Blanca

draped in Spanish moss, never travel to
        Chicago to talk emu export

at the Mercantile Exchange, or let full sail
        in the middle of some hurricane.

Nobody'd ever deny what a Georgia peach
        she could be, this stinger who'd spend

her last golden nugget for a chance to set
        Rhett one old-fashioned fire in the sky.

© 2011 Maureen E. Doallas
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This poem is a response to Donna Vorreyer's Poetry Tow Truck prompt "Have a Drink on Me" at her blog Put Words Together. Make Meaning. The prompt requires the writer to use at least three of the phrases found in this list of drink names but to use them in a different context, not as the names of drinks.

13 comments:

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

Wonderful--- do hook up w/dverse today, prompt's on color and you'll love Victoria's discussion on color in art! A true sashay and tour d'force of image and involvement of the senses in this--

used to dreaming about some French
connection on whom she could turn

a single eye like a gimlet, boring in on dry
red lips for a chance at that Parisian

fool's gold. Every gentle Ben for as far as you
could see would fall for her, always on

Cinco de Mayo, when she, dressed up in black
velvet, batted those long lashes like

the femme fatale she put on

the ref. to emu export cracks me up-- I know people who went bust on the llama boom-- you can't give them away around here now and then took up emus for reasons that utterly baffle me! xxxxj

S. Etole said...

I always enjoy your poetry, Maureen.

Glynn said...

Great poem. With all the colors mentioned, you should post it at dVerse Poets, too -- the prompt today is "colors."

hedgewitch said...

Very amusing and deft, Maureen--some of the names on that drink list were hilarious--my favorite being Milk of Amnesia. Your poem stays faithful to the inner O'Hara, while taking her for quite a lively spin. Lots of fun.

Brian Miller said...

ha...set sail in a hurricane just to set that flame for her rhett...i have not seen that movie in forever...a fun romp maureen...

Anonymous said...

Very clever - you used so many!

Anonymous said...

when i was in film school, i learned that Rhett was just an alcoholic...shattering isn't it?

vivinfrance said...

Terrific use of the drink names, laughter all the way through. From your words, I get the impression you think the same way I do about Miss O'H: a thoroughgoing bitch!

Michael Ann said...

I always enjoy your poetry too! One of my favorite books, and you capture the essence of it perfectly. "Bad habit" for sure!

Kathy Bischoping said...

I don't know many names of drinks, but I do know that I like to feel a poem has layers, and the unexpected word choices and oomph of this narrative, with its spirited heroine, made for a lively read.

Ruth said...

This is quite rich and lively, Maureen! I like the language a lot, and the contrast of the silver bullet and Scarlet's fool's gold. Excellent response to the prompt!

Beachanny said...

I adore the trip through the "movies" no one else mentioned. It was like my life at the movies in review and I don't think Gone With The Wind was anywhere near my first movie but it was shown in probably it's first re-release when I was a child and my mother and aunt took me and hmmd and ahhd through it leaving me baffled. I must have fallen asleep in the second half waking up for the child's fall from the horse and being afraid of them for some time after.

Your work here is deft and clever. I loved it.

Victoria said...

Damn this is clever, Maureen. I love how you wove in the cocktails and somehow created a spot-on thumbnail sketch of Scarlet. And all the art-associated links you have listed on you blog will definitely draw me back here again. Thanks for linking to the prompt, and thanks, Jen, for inviting her.