One Stop Spotlight - The Way to You - a poem by Marlene Giraud

Do you believe in love at first sight when it comes to poetry..? I do... since I stumbled upon Marlene Giraud's poetry at  Qbanpoet during One Shot Wednesday...

The intensity and atmosphere in her writing and the fantastic use of imagery captured me from the very first minute and drew me into the world, she creates with her words..a world you can feel and smell and taste...

Here is what she wrote for us -  relax - take a deep breath - and - enjoy...!!
~ Claudia


The Way to You

1

I drive the same route to see you
the back beaten pathway through horse country,
fields with fences the ponies jump during season,
dead empty for now,
dried up and rusted farm equipment,
the uses for which I have no clue,
but you would.
And you’d explain to me the subtleties of tractor engines
and round service cord or some such thing.
Machinery and names of tools catalogued in your mind.
You’d see how the fences were carved or cut or stained or hauled or built
from this distance
like you can see the dining room tables, arm chairs, floorboards,
desk or dais
waiting to be prepared in planks of wood.
Maybe you can see inside trees to the whorls and markings
and know how old they are
like a dendrochronologist or super hero with x-ray vision.
If you were here,
you’d admire the farm hands, metal workers, wood walkers, groomers, and saddlers
and disdain the polo players’ audience
because they were watching not working.

2

I’m piecing poetry to pop songs
that’d make you grimace,
noticing how odd it is that when you pull up to a stoplight
and look at the neighbor car, they know to look directly
back at you.
I’m aware of burger kings on corners
and boston terriers on sidewalks,
the smell of French fries
and the vision of black and white and fur.
I’m involved in the metaphor of the pine needle
trapped in my windshield wipers
wondering how many times it too has made the journey
to see you.
I see the familiar inland sunset
all rosy purple orange colors
contrasting the digital dashboard green
and gray upholstery of my decidedly girly cruiser.
The vintage style speedometers
versus the suburban sprawl of shopping plazas,
scenes so homey and recognizable
I could close my eyes and steer straight
all the way to you.

© Marlene Giraud




And for those of you, who may have fallen in love as well while reading this, meet the Poet Marlene Giraud - here she's giving us some background information:

I'm 31 years old and work as a nanny. I've been writing since I was a child but poetry became my passion in high school. I became editor of the school's literary magazine and helped create the still running coffeehouse poetry performance night called "Mudslide Cafe." At Eckerd College I continued to write and perform poetry. (The picture on my blog on the About the Poet page is from a performance in college. So old! I need new pictures!) I have a BA in Creative Writing. I wrote a chapbook of poetry called, "'I Care Little for my Body,' She Said." In my adulthood, I've performed at Greenberry's Coffeehouse and because of that I was featured in Wellington Magazine. I belong to the Poets of the Palm Beaches, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and encouraging the creation of original poetry in Palm Beach County, Florida. Recently, a friend was encouraging me to start writing again and self publish on the web. I told him I have poetry in my head all day long. It's always there. He asked me how I see the world. I told him I see it in metaphor. Whenever I witness the smallest things the larger worldly meaning comes to me like a beetle bumping repeatedly against my screen porch is a metaphor for our struggle to find meaning in life. He said, "Uh yeah, not everybody thinks that way. You have a gift and it's criminal not to write it down and share it." So, I started Qbanpoet.com.