Oh roadside oddity, embodiment of raw
American id, homage to good-natured
bad taste. Paul Bunyan replica,
colossus talking cow,
World’s Largest Anything–
I love that you dominate
the litter-strewn patch just south
of the highway ditch.
Praise the water tower posing
as a giant peach, the oversized metalwork
dinner fork, the ten-foot-tall
hitch-hiking thumb–and God bless the man
dressed up as a hot dog, handing out coupons
inside a huge fiberglass bun.
~ ~ ~
Marjorie Manwaring lives in Seattle, where she is a freelance editor, co-editor of the online poetry and art journal the DMQ Review (www.dmqreview.com), and editorial board member for Floating Bridge Press. Her first full-length poetry collection, Search for a Velvet-Lined Cape (Mayapple Press), was released earlier this year. She is also the author of two chapbooks, What to Make of a Diminished Thing (Dancing Girl Press) and Magic Word (Pudding House Publications). You can find out more at www.mmanwaring.com.
the museum of americana: A LITERARY REVIEW 