[Jan D. Hodge]

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

[Michael Cantor]

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?)

[Julie Steiner]

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."

[David Anthony]

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

[Jan D. Hodge]

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.

[David Anthony]

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.

[John Beaton]

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

John