California Convertible

I pull in
to fill up
Top down
Bouncing to
the beat
of Buddy Holly
And the old biddy
at the next pump
glares and sniffs
Not at the
gasoline smell
But at the part
of her life
that’s empty.

Running on Empty

My latest addiction is Wrigley’s Polar Ice
I unwrap all fifteen pieces from the package

Lay them on the passenger seat
like a long line of cocaine

Or Salem substitutes
during the 160 Montana miles ahead

Or subtle similes aside
an endeavour to undo the habit of you

But the bumps and ruts in the gravel road
have their way with the Wrigley’s

And when I reach over for a fix
I find again the emptiness I try to feed.

Ellaraine Lockie is an American poet and non-fiction writer who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. A past contributor to Poet’s Corner, she was born and raised in the Big Sandy and Bear Paw Mountains region of Montana, to where she returns for extended stays. She teaches poetry workshops, and is the poetry editor for ‘Lilipoh Magazine’. For her own work she has received a number of writing awards, including nominations for the US annual Pushcart Prize, first prizes from various US chapbook publishers, and a Best Individual Collection Award from the UK’s Purple Patch Magazine. As well as appearing in literary magazines, journals and anthologies in the US and internationally and widely online, she has published 13 chapbooks of her poetry, including the latest ‘Tripping With the Top Down’ from which today’s poems come.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.