Rolling down the mountain I see the sign, “Runaway Truck Ramp.”
I wonder, “What would it feel like driving an eighteen-wheeler;
Losing my brakes half-way down the mountain at seventy mph?
Would I panic or stay focused?
I would guide my rig right into that welcomed sand trail
Carving grooves // sinking in all the way to my axles
Coming to a rumbling halt half-way up.”
“Yes, that would definitely be the thrill of a lifetime!”
Photo: Dwight L. Roth
Today at d’Verse Frank asked us to write a soliloquy (a literary effect of having a conversation with yourself in a poem). This is my first attempt at a soliloquy. I hope it is close to being correct!
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Roth Poetry 
I don’t know about the correctness of the form, I do know I like this piece of writing a lot. 🙂
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Thanks Peter! I am making a stab at it! I am glad you enjoyed it. I rethink this every time I drive by one of these ramps!!
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Lol it won’t really end as the thrill of a lifetime. Lovely image though! This was funny piece!
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Thank you! Something to make you smile!
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Most welcome, oh yeah it did as I laughed too!
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What is a ‘Runaway Truck Ramp’? I’m intrigued as to how they run away.
Saying that, when I was a child, my father used to work at a dairy and occasionally I got to ride along in a very large Scammell lorry. What an exciting experience. I’m not sure I could drive one, though.
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A runaway truck ramp is built to stop a vehicle that has lost its brakes. a better alternative than going of the edge of the Mountain. It is made up the side of the mountain so the truck can go straight up. It has a bed of sand and perhaps gravel that creates the resistance needed to stop a tractor trailor.
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Thank you, Dwight. Where I live is very flat, not a hill or mountain to be seen.
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Coming to a slow stop, sinking the wheels of motion, into the sands of time …
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Oh, yes Ivor. I like that analogy! Seems all to realistic at our age!
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It made me smile … and got my heart racing too! 😁
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An adrenaline rush for sure!
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lol we must have similar thoughts … I too would love this, well written! You took me there 🙂
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Thanks Kate! It is great to have a vivid imagination!
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yep keeps me well entertained 🙂
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I’ve wondered something similar when I saw those signs. I didn’t know that sand is what stops them, but now that you mention it I imagine that would work.
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It may have some gravel mixed in… I am not sure!
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Yes, I have thought it! We are all the same at the core, aren’t we?
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Yes, I believe we are…
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Driving is such a perfect time for soliloquy. When I traveled for my work, I called it “think tank time”!
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I have often wondered about those ramps, Dwight. I like the picture you draw and the motion generated by the poem…enjoyed this one…(as for the form, it is an interesting prompt, a lot of poems are essentially, soliloquies!)
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Thank you very much! You can see the actual ramp in the distance on the photo. I agree… we poets talk to ourselves a lot!!
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Those run-away-truck-lanes are wonderful subjects to ponder. Maybe we sometimes want some of that thrill in ordinary life (especially if there is a safe stop in the end).
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Yes, It is called living on the edge! Go for it!
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Growing up in Colorado and seeing these signs and truck ramps also made me wonder what it would feel like to lose brakes…frightful and thankful for a place to stop!
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Thanks Lynn! A reminder every time I pass!
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I see this all the time where I live (never an actual run-away truck) but I swear I ponder the situation – not sure I’d ever call it a thrill of a lifetime! 🙂
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If it happened to you and you survived, you would not forget it for sure! :>)
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I’m not familiar with ‘soliloquy’ at all but I liked this! It immediately brought back the scary memory of my brakes going out, and passing through what could have been a deadly intersection. Not in a big rig but scary as hell.
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Yes, I have been in some of those same scary situations. Makes one realize how fragile life is and how easily it could end in an instant! I was not familiar with soliloquy either. As I understand it is simply talking to yourself. Just the thing for us old folks!! :>)
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I must be very good at soliloquy then. I am always talking to myself. Sometimes I can’t get myself to shut up. 🙂
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Ha Ha! me too!
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😂
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To thrill or not to thrill 🙂
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Ha Ha! No choice here… it is all thrill!
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Lol, indeed, I’ll go with that.
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Oh my …. this brings to mind our many years of “car vacations” — both growing up and also our camping trips with our kids. We’d see those lanes for runaway trucks and I always always wondered what it would be like! Never saw a truck use one….thank goodness!
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Thank you Lillian! I have seen tracks in them a couple of times, but most of the time they were smooth.
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I don’t know anything about the correctness of writing that, but I will admit to having those exact thoughts nearly every time I see those! Some of them are pretty scary looking though! It seems as if some don’t have enough sand to stop a truck coming that fast. Ever notice?
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I believe the sand is fairly deep and the truck would simply sink in. I am sure everyone wonders when then go by! :>)
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