​Oh Honey, You Came to the Right Place, by Marka Rifat

​Oh Honey, You Came to the Right Place 

after Twentysix Gasoline Stations, by Ed Ruscha (USA) 1969

Don't think she caught my smile.
She, in her own soft world
of sprigged cotton and lace,
creamy, high-collared security. 

"Gas, ma'am?" I asked and 
her head dipped, not quite in time
with her wig, and the wide, gloved hands 
fluttered lavender thanks and clasped 
a worn purse to flat chest.

Brave to stop here, a wind-blown nowhere,
so I checked the oil, the plugs, the whole caboodle,
and her bony shoulders lowered,
knowing home would be reached safe
and she could remove her great feet
from those straining Mary Janes.

For a speck of a moment, she frowned
at my throat and then we looked 
straight at each other. 
She mouthed, "Good job,"
and her finger tips
brushed a benediction on my buzz cut
and off she drove
in a cloud of hope and Coty.

Marka Rifat 
​
Marka Rifat writes poems, stories, essays and reviews, as well as producing illustrations and photography. She has several awards and commendations including from Oxford Poetry Library, the international Saki short story Prize, and Federation of Writers (Scotland). Her written and visual work is in more than 60 anthologies. Marka was born in Scotland and via a few countries, now lives there. She has performed her work in a fish market and on a hill overlooking the North Sea.