weirdelf
weirdelf
Oct 09, 2013

The Drags (with better spoken word link)

THE DRAGS

D’you remember?
d’you remember the drags?
It was great
d’you remember E.J. Potter?
The Michigan Madman that bike oh man that bike
you think yours is big ha!
That bike, that bike had a 312 cubic inch
fuel injected v8 corvette donk ha!
When that mother did the quarter
oh man did he do the quarter mile!
That wheel never stopped spinning,
man they had to hold up the races for ten minutes
for the fuckin smoke to clear,

wow, not the fastest, mind
no not the quickest
but the biggest
and the meanest
man oh you should have seen this guy EJ Potter
he looked like a fuckin librarian man
fair dinkum pale and scrawny and wire rimmed
specs this little weed wrestling
half a ton of twisting snorting monster
down the strip it was something to see
oh yeah

and the jet car wow oh yeah the jet car
like the guy said before the run
that this was like one reaally slick machine
that it was so quiet if you shut your eyes
or even blinked you’ld miss the run
and there it was this biro with wheels
sitting there turning over
(you could tell by the smoke)
just so quiet you couldn’t hear nothing
and there’s the christmas tree down go the lights
and on the go oh man this shriek went out
it just cut ya in half at the fuckin guts
oh man they were just falling back from the fence
I mean ya heard it in ya guts not ya ears
and then the time came down
and that thing had done the first quarter mile
under six seconds in Australian history
5.97 seconds man
276 miles an hour through the traps
but that baby flew!
whhoooo...

dya ever see the standers
man these guys would like you know
chuck a wheely like the front wheels just lifted off
and stayed up like all the way through the traps

oh nooo but the fuellers ooh the fuellers
AA fuel dragsters they were the kings
they were the gods
oh baby those long thin monsters
running 98 per cent nitro
through 450 cubic inch bored out
supercharged v-8s to 8 straight through pipes ooh
but that howl that brat it grabbed ya
like music never will
it picked ya up at the entrails
and shook ya round like a rag doll
it rattled ya bones like a bikers mole.
 
and the burn out dya ever see a burn out?
like they'd put this shit on the strip man and spin the wheels in it and it’ld light up
and flames all about and the flames from the pipes
they flew on wings man
fiery wings like burning burning it melted the tyres
(see?  for better traction)

you know those fuckers thundered man
it was Thors revenge
it was Supermen farting,
it was a fuckin gas!

(right click, select "new  tab" to view text whilst listening)
https://soundcloud.com/user536630132/the-drags-by-jess-tapper

About This Poem

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Editing - rough draft

About the Author

Region, Country: Sydney, Australia, AUS

Favorite Poets: The Romantics

This user supports Neopoet so it can be free to all

More from this author

Comments

Rula

Rula

11 years 6 months ago

I had to agree with Scott.
The audio makes a special and real difference with such lengthy poem.

weirdelf

I was raving, I seem recall, in a car with three friends about drag car racing when I was about 16 and somewhat intoxicated. Someone in the car with me said, wow man, that's poetry. When I got home I wrote out the rave as verbatim as I could recall it. I imagine even doing a video in car like the Queen parody, in the movie "Wayne's World". So no wondder it sounds better aloud.That was how it was born.

It says nothing of world politics, saving the planet, eternal love or dark forbidden pleasures. It was just a passion shared, and it is one of my favourite of my own poems.

BlueDemon77

It was a story well told, and your reading was flawless. Highest accolades on this fine piece.

Ron

Rula

Rula

11 years 6 months ago

I can't find the "new tab" when I click right.

themoonman

This is damn fine poetry !!!
and spoken just gives it that
much more,

thanks for sharing

Richard