| ONE SILENCE
I speak of a foster child
that has grown up just between us.
At first an infant hardly noticeable,
sleeping much of the time, sweet
and damp, oblivious, wanting
to be held and passed back and forth,
needing attention at all hours,
carried wherever either of us went.
But silences grow, and this one
soon could travel further, and
fed at first at the breast, began
eating other things. Playing
long hours in the dirt, in the deep shade,
we would often have to force a pebble
or stick or bone from its stubborn
mouth, saying spit it out.
By now the silence could be taken
anywhere on our travels and left
alone for long periods. It could eat
anything, minded strangers, and even
in the dark could feed and dress itself.
It got so it enjoyed getting lost,
spending whole nights roaming
strange cities without lights.
Now granted its full weight and height
it comes to visit each of us alone,
its coat unbuttoned, shoe laces untied;
there is no seeing around it,
no listening but to its empty tales
told pacing around the bare table,
no other sound but the breath of
its huge dark life being let out.
BOTTOMING OUT
Outside my son is preparing
to junk his first dream car.
He goes through the trunk
the glovebox under the front seats
around the tunnel on the floor
digging out soggy mementos
that go in a pile in the garbage.
Everything from packets of fuses
to a little cardboard evergreen
air freshener you hang on your mirror
to gas can spare plugs and spare coil.
Why should he keep anything?
He is brave and tries not to think
all told what it cost him
the parts the rain down the neck
long nights on cold concrete
the black hands he'd wash
to find where they bled from
the shudders the breakdowns
the stalls and jumps and rollstarts
and always the dirt in that gas tank
sucked through the pump to the float bowl
plugging main metering and idle jets
so it would start up with a roar and die
and even when it ran good you lost it
half the front end on wet leaves
cornering late one night
and how it had so much power
it needed a real suspension
and even with halfway decent tires
still the bleeder valves were stripped out on
the rear brake cylinders
so they hardly even touched the drums
if you stood on it
or pumped a bunch coming down
the long hills like gangbusters
How are you going to dump all that
playing of mechanics with your head
learning the mysteries
that kept you doing
the wrong things over and over
till at last there were almost no mistakes
the mangled road maps and car manuals
that let you arrive at a place where
things are always measured twice
and studied to go together
with the least amount of persuasion
from that stubby nine pound sledge
where things can only be clean
and where since they have to work
eventually they might as well
work here and now
and fit right all the way
WORD ONE
Whoever said secrets don't keep
just never met my first wife
though I should have known from the getgo
I was dealing with a pro
when she insisted on
separate checking and charge accounts
but I wasn't thinking secrets
all I thought thank God no separate beds
cause I had on pink colored glasses
the whole two weeks of the honeymoon
which may be why they don't last
even with the full payoff
simply to have and to hold
the one love of your life
sunup on Maui rolling in the warm surf
crab in lemon butter
chocolate strawberries champagne
about as good as it can get
and it was pretty good
I mean we didn't get too crazy
tanned or chilled
bouncing in and out of the air conditioning
and had a lot of laughs along the way
but start to end I never had a clue
the only thing I caught
her trying to economize in little ways
which is uncharacteristic
like ordering off the child's menu
and me always saying forget it
this is all you save for anyway let go
but now I wonder at the agony
in that poor woman's mind all that time
not wanting to spoil our happiness
so never saying word one
till we get off the airplane
walking along to the baggage check
when all at once
she falls to the ground and starts wailing
I think she's tripped on something
hurt herself
and check her over head to toe
and hold her till she can choke back
the tears enough to finally blubber out
how she'd wrecked our new car
on the way to meet me at the airport
so it's not here waiting for us
in the underground garage
and she wouldn't even be
telling me right now except
we're going to have to take a cab
and that's going to cost us a fortune
© Paul Hunter
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