Memory says
once upon a time
I was rocking out on the Cape
and saw Carly Simon hitchhiking
Picked her up of course
She and James Taylor
had just had a brutal fight
She walked away and stuck out a thumb
and now here she was in my Porsche…so I
will be polite and non-descriptive
except to say she paid for bed and breakfast
If memory serves I wrecked that Porsche
trying for one last kiss or feel
I remember it all perfectly —
it was a silver 911S
She was wearing the floppy hat
from the No Secrets album cover
and that slip dress thing from Playing Possum
But for the fact that I have never owned a Porsche
and have never slept with Carly Simon
it was the greatest night of my life
See
I heard this story a long time ago
from a woman who claimed
that it happened to her
except
it was James Taylor
who picked HER up
in HIS silver Porsche
and I said
if only that were me
so memory said
we can fix that
and now
I think the song is about me
Dark Matter 
October 7th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Hmmm. Loved this right up until the end. Think it needs a sharper point in the last stanza. Otherwise, though, I think it’s fantastic. Love the use of Simon and Tayler as both cultural symbols and “characters.” Oddly enough, this was juxtaposed in my Google Reader with political blogger Andrew Sullivan randomly quoting H.P. Lovecraft:
“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” – H.P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
Needless to say, the pairing of the poem and the quote are having an interesting conversation in my head.
October 7th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Interesting quote and juxtaposition.
Yeah — that ending is pretty much a place holder. Columbus Day and associated myths were playing in my head as I was working on this, and I’m not sure they truly belong in this poem.
There’s more to be said here even on the story itself — like, where the image of the silver Porsche came from might be worth including. More to be done.
Thanks.