Your task, if you choose to accept it:

Write a poem about my newly-acquired vintage car:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Historic-pre-war-1936-Austin-Seven-Ruby-Car_W0QQitemZ260002661772QQihZ016QQcategoryZ27376Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohost ing

http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtm...ML/001839.html

The winning poem(s) will be shown around my local Austin Seven club and included in the car's papers, so you might become a part of motoring posterity.

Bonus points for including the reg number--CVX 327--in the body of the poem.

She's my Austin Seven Ruby!
Such a sweet sedan!
She's my Austin Seven Ruby!
I'm the pizza man!

Call me up, 'cause I deliver
Here at Pizza Heaven!
I'll be driving Charlie Victor
X-ray Three Two Seven!

CVX-327: A Limerick (With Extended Middle)

The rhyming motorist from Poke Stages
bought the car he'd wanted for ages.
In his Austin 7,
he'll drive to heaven;
in his ruby saloon
he'll fly over the moon,
crafting poems not intended for pages.

The Austin Seven Ruby Saloon

In search of a lucrative real estate deal,
I decided to move out of Boston,
and purchase a bar -- 'cause they generally are
a rewarding investment -- in Austin.

I found a small tavern whose roof was a haven
for migrating tropical boobies,
and ignoring the mice, I inquired as to price,
to be told with a grin: "Seven rubies."

I know a Mr. Anthony
Who bought a vintage Austin
That breaks down almost every day--
Don't ask him what it's costin'.

I asked him why he got the thing.
He said, "I dig the ride..."
Although it doesn't go that fast
And the wheel's on the wrong side.

Talking as Lord David

I'll get some fool to write a triolet
about my brand new vintage auto car -
that spiffy add-on to my resumé
demands a man who'll write a triolet
so that the Sphere can cheer my red coupé
(won't mention that I overbid by far.)
I'll find a fool who'll write a triolet:
I bought a brand new vintage auto car!



[This message has been edited by Michael Cantor (edited July 24, 2006).]

CVX 327, or Ruby Roundel

My ’36 Ruby, a classic Austin!
I’m chuffed to bits, and so would you be!
She’s a car to dawdle at minimum cost in,
my ’36 Ruby!

You can — the name is a major clue — be
sure of her colour. A car to get lost in
on lazy summer days in the blue be-

yond, a car to be shaken and tossed in!
Does the club have a bar? I’m a vintage newbie.
I hope there’s a bed: I couldn’t drive sloshed in
my ’36 Ruby!




[This message has been edited by Henry Quince (edited July 23, 2006).]

David. Not part of your contest because I am overwhelmed by memories of my poet-aunt's Baby Austin which was a tiny horseless carriage. Written on the hoof.


A ruby saloon is an elegant car,
but my suffragette aunt went one better
with a Baby Austin which carried her far
in her role as a stylish pace-setter.
The panels were fashioned from wood
and the seats were a fragrant soft leather.
We read Edward Lear as it suited her mood
when we travelled the country together.
It's true I was three and those trips were my first
How I loved every sight and the motion,
and the scent of the car made my heart nearly burst.
For my aunt I felt utter devotion.
The ruby saloon is delightful. The art
of those Austins was style and simplicity.
Whether ruby or blue you can tell from the start
they embody our needs with felicity.

Glorious escapade!
David G. Anthony
has a new car will make
anyone swoon.
Fancy him driving his
septuagenarian
thirty-six Austin, a
ruby saloon!

Red leather seats and a
beige felt interior,
gleaming red finish from
bonnet to boot--
what a fine playground for
autoerotica!
(Would he indulge such a
wanton pursuit?)

May he hold fast to the
characteristically
modest demeanor we
typically see
lest he become someone
unrecognizable
driving that CVX
seven two three.*

*I’m not dyslexic. I changed the reg. # to protect your identity. http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbhtml/wink.gif

Jan - what if L5/L6 of S3 became:

driver of CVX
three twenty-seven, he

and take it from there?

Michael-- It would preclude the jokes(?) of my note?

Yes, but I saved you two lines to slide in the joke you told at West Chester about the travelling vintage car salesman, the poet's daughter, the clogged toilet and Manchester United. (You do remember, don't you?)

Part of Motoring Posterity

Posterity will marvel at the sleekness of the chassis.
Posterity will measure off the canopy of felt.
Posterity will comment on the leather seats so classy:
"The Anthonys' posteriors were positively svelte."

What a delightful mix of styles and forms--near-limerick, near-sonnet, triolet, double dactyl, rap and nonce.
I'm nowhere near choosing a favourite at the moment. Some that tickled me are:
Simon's Poke Stages
Rose's witty off-beam take.
Henry's brilliantly-rhymed roundel
Janet's wistful recollection, so similar to my own (but I think you could improve on the closing "felicity", Janet).
Julie's "Anthony's posteriors were positively svelte", plus bonus points for the reg number.
Jan, your DD's a cracker, and would be even better, I think, if you took Mike's suggestion.
Further bonus points for anybody who gets:
"Ruby,
take (or don't take) your love to town"
into a poem.
Best wishes,
David

Though I wanted this to end with the registration #, and metrical consideration led me to “dyslexia,” others apparently did not find this as clever as I. So I have fashioned a compromise. Michael’s “CVX / twenty-three seven” won’t work in L5-6 of the stanza for reasons of syntax and form, but I have adapted it elsewhere in the stanza, and added a fourth for good(?) measure:


Glorious escapade!
David G. Anthony
has a new car will make
anyone swoon.
Fancy him driving his
septuagenarian
thirty-six Austin, a
ruby saloon!

Red leather seats and a
beige felt interior,
gleaming red finish from
bonnet to boot--
what a fine playground for
autoerotica!
(Would he indulge such a
wanton pursuit?)

We have misgivings that
driving that CVX
three twenty-seven might
lead him astray,
turning him into an
unrecognizable
swell, and our affable
David betray.

Please, friend, beware of such
parlous temptation, and
fend off the devil of
unwonted pride.
We like you best when you’re
uncompromisingly
humble--and hope that you’ll
give us a ride.

Last Sunday was the 90th anniversary of the first Austin 7, so 334 of us drove from London to Brighton to celebrate.
Mine's a real hot rod now since I installed a high-compression cylinder head, increasing the bhp by 3 to 16. I roared past several A7s on the way back, often exceeding 50 mph.

He waxed his Austin 7
and raced, uber-bodacious,
so when we parked beside him
we called him Austin-tatious.

John