Modern Comprachico
(a recent poem)
Modern Comprachico
Thursday afternoon
while I worked unaware
outside in the office parking lot
a motorist, I use the term loosely
carved a comprachico grin
on my beloved five year old’s face.
I’m a Victor Hugo afficionado
but I didn’t appreciate
this homage to Gwynplaine
a character best known
as the inspiration
for DC Comics’ Joker
I assure you,
I am certainly not
a man who is laughing
as the so-called motorist
was also uninsured.
Conrad Veidt was memorable
in the 1928 film
but I would like to forget
my car’s disfigurement.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Streaked as if by white lightning,
the shining royal purple coat looked odd
when I peered from my dusty window
at my rusty old car, Ms. Reliable,
parked mere inches from my nose.
I ran out to examine the crazed glaze.
My eyes noticed new scratches,
the bumper kicked in,
the grill claw-hammered and rip-torn,
the Toyota logo ripped off and gone.
A new paint job and body repairs –
I’d be out a few hundreds of dollars –
more money than I had to spend –
but spend I must if I wanted things fixed-up
because the insurance guys said
“We don’t pay for acts of vandalism,
unless you paid extra for a floater.”
Luckily, as I was in a small accident,
a few days later,
so none of this came to matter at all.