poem

deadline monday 6 pm in california

analyze this poem`s characters, setting and circumstance,

more importantly, theme and imagery.

I cut the deck

and found a magician

driving a mack truck

down the California grapevine.

His eyes were glistening Japanese beetles,  

and his hands were surveyors of the moon.  

He pulled a carnation

out of his sleeve,

and offered me a ride.

I took the flower and said I was leaving  

to be an illusionist. He said

he specialized in cards

and sleight of hand.

I touched his mouth and ears

with my lips,

                   “Keep on truckin,”

I said.

But he laughed and told me a bedtime story.  

His body was an elm.

His mouth was filled with grapes.

His hands turned my body into new honey.

Now I am home alone,

reading directions

for sawing a beautiful woman in half.  

First you start with a mirror … .

Before I turn down

the crisp sheets of my bed,

I shuffle the tarot deck.

But the magician is missing.

Is he

still driving the freeways of California?

Or is he

only an illusion

in my own  

magician’s  

head?