Sunday

Rusted, Not Busted

Posted for a variety of prompts:

Camera Critters (photo)
Monday Mural (Black-Eyed Susan photo”)
One Single Impression (“folly”)
Simply Snickers (“total,” “tradition” and ”triumph”)
Slice of Life Sunday (“My Earliest Childhood Memory,” “I Thought I Was Invincible” or “Writer’s Choice”)
Sunday Scribblings (“Do I have to?”)
Totally Optional Prompts (“lost stuff”)
Word Beads (“mop,” “prism,” “rehearse,” “temporary” and “versa”)
Wordless Wednesday’s Sunday edition

Rusted, Not Busted
(A Tractor's Folly)

A vintage tractor, long past prime,
I moved some mountains in my time.
Yet newer models have replaced
My usefulness, so I’ve been aced.

My stuff is lost; I cannot roar.
My turbo traction is no more.
They parked me here beside a weed,
Assuming I will go to seed.

But do I have to? Will I stall?
Need I a total overhaul?
Just mop the grime and grease away.
‘Tis folly, but I want to play.

My total triumph would be toil,
Digging through the deepest soil.
Invincible, I claimed to be.
Why have they tossed away my key?

My temporary work rehearsed,
I stand beside the field, accursed.
My lamps reflect the sun, as prisms,
Seeking use, not skepticisms.

Tradition, timed, vice versa, calls
Although my engine stops and stalls.
I want to work. I simply must.
‘Tis better to burn out than rust.1


1 “It's better to burn out than it is to rust.”
Quotation
from Neil Young’s 1979 song, “My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue),”
from the Rust Never Sleeps album.


Love poetry? Check out Simply Snickers, a brand-new weekly poetry prompt. Try your hand with weekly prompts! Or, look into The Meme Express for daily blogging prompts.

Click here to visit Linda Ann Nickerson’s poetry and humor blog, Nickers and Ink.

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15 comments:

  1. Ahh yes, I see lots of this here in farming-country Missouri.

    I love the poem and the photo.

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  2. I enjoyed this very much. The story line made me think of Virginia Lee Burton's stories about Mike and the steam shovel.

    How time passes yet doesn't pass when we see such things before us.

    Thanks for joining in this week.

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  3. I know exactly how that tractor feels!

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  4. I love this! It's so wonderful and has both a literal and metaphoric truth in it. Wonderful poem - and photo too.

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  5. Perfect thought to go with the tractor and poem.

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  6. Love the idea of a talking tractor!
    Quite fun to see life from the perspective of some wheeled machine that may have seen other days!

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  7. "Better to burn out than to rust...." I like this line and thought your use of it as an ending to the tractor's soliloquy was appropos. Nice write.

    -Nicole

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  8. This is so different. I like it!

    yellowed piece of paper

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  9. OK now I know this is a black-eyed susan and not a daisy like I had thought before. Oh well, my poem is off but yours is very creative. Being a town girl I have only experienced rusty farm equipment from afar.

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  10. I really liked this. You brought life to that ol' tractor even though its still sitting there rusting away. That ending was superb. Nice job. Have a nice day.

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  11. Wow...great poem. How do you manage to write such great poems and get all those prompts in as well? I am in awe.

    My Simply Snickers poem reflects my writers block frustrations

    -Bev

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  12. Thoughtful poem and terrific photo! Nice job!

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  13. A sad homage to a tractor. I like the final line. Good use of the prompt! It was difficult for me.

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  14. When I was a child my grandfather used to give me rides on such a tractor. It now sits, rusting, beside my cousin's barn. Now I know how it feels.

    Tradition vs Innovation

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