Cars

This '63 Dodge Dart is the same model and color as my first car.

This ’63 Dodge Dart is the same model and color as my first car. Click to enlarge.

’63 powder-blue Dodge Dart
slant-six engine, push-button transmission
that my father gave me in 1970.

Volvo 122s Wagon I bought with a hundred dollars cash
and twenty-five dollars in food stamps.

Green-gold Ford Maverick I sold to hitchhike around Europe.

Tiny red Subaru hatchback that got me home
after a music gig one night
on an unplowed highway
in a New England blizzard.

Jeep Wagoneer that leaked oil and power-steering fluid
on my hands and shirt.

’58 Chevy Bel Air I slept in one winter night,
after its headlights shorted out.

Fourth-hand International mail truck
the worn cylinders and bad kingpins
foiled my dream of living on the road.

Beige Toyota Corolla with a previous owner’s bag of weed
hidden behind the headlight.

’59 Rambler
nearly killed me
when the scissors jack tipped over.