In my forthcoming book The Things a Body Might Become, I have a poem titled "Calvin Pees on Iraq," and it references the character from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip peeing on the country of Iraq. The poem appears early in the collection, and it imagines the literal act: pissing on 29 million people. It's one of many poems that explores how global events impact domestic events (and vice versa), but it is unique in its pop culture/bumper sticker reference.
When I was brainstorming other poem topics/ideas for this collection, I decided that the book could potentially use another bumper sticker reference, and since I actually reference the "spread-legged stripper sticker," in the Calvin poem, I thought I might write one to/for her.
But as I trawled Google image, I discovered I really wanted to write about "Mudflap Girl," the most iconic naked lady image appearing on mud flaps, car decals, and even hood ornaments.
Her story is a type of urban legend, so I decided to become the woman she was supposed to be modeled after and explore the complexity of being/not being this muse.
Here is an excerpt from "Mudflap Girl Speaks" (read the full poem on Tupelo's blog here):
"...Or a wisp of the she before me,
untethered
Amazon freewheeling the countryside.
Her body’s
open road, long haul, radio static,
bellowing
semi horn her call. Maybe she was
a goddess
of his dreams: the slope of spine
a
dangerous curve at night, dark crease along hip,
one-way bridge, flashing
lights."
Thank you to everyone who is reading these posts and these poems, and thank you to those of you who are donating and requesting poetry incentives! Four more requests came in today, but I still have plenty of days/poems to fulfill your order.
Yours in poetry,
Emari
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