47 pontiac
39 merc
49 merc
51 chevy
51 lincoln
57 pontiac
one had a choke
one was big and steady
one threw a rod on the garden state
one had no first gear
one bore kittens
one got new spark plugs
one got a tape deck
one got slippy seat covers
one got seat belts
one got seat cancer
we bargained for junkyard tires
we fixed our own flats
we patched blown mufflers
we sent oil down the storm drain
we didn’t know better
Apologies and thanks to Raymond Carver for the mostly subconscious influence of his poem “The Car”, copy here. My favorite of his long list of troubled cars? “The car that left the restaurant without paying.”