Lucky

Lucky




My father and mother are on their way home
to Kentucky from Ohio where my father works.
He's been lucky so far that year, landing the job.
They stop outside of Dayton to fill up with gas.
My mother, Nettie, pulls the Kodak from a spot
she was blessed to find between ribboned boxes
they're carting home to Neon. For the holidays.

She wants to have a picture of the two of them.
This, while the attendant is beginning to pump
premium into their car. And before he squeegees
the windshield.Wipes it and it refreezes, the glass
strafed by squadrons of more and more snowflakes.
Before he has raised the hood or checked the oil.
If you are lucky and in love, it looks like this—

happy in her red wool overcoat, Nettie is asking
the gas station attendant with a name egg reading
Butch to stop what he's doing and to do this Other.
She poses, reaching for my father's camelhair coat
with a gloved free hand signifying their connection.
She seems to own both the uncomfortable winter air
and the promised heat of the inside of a car they are

fortunate to have. This is lucky, the way she reaches
for a man whose life has been a failed first marriage
and war but whose face is lit up as if acknowledging
having lived past the point where every answer is no.
After the picture-taking, the attendant wags his head
and counts dollar bills as they drive off with enough
of what it takes to see them farther down the road.


Copyright (c) 2011 Roy Bentley.
All rights reserved.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Twohawksfucking
• Roy
• Bentley
• Spoken
• Word
• Poetry
• Ohio
• Kentucky
• Dayton
• 1953

[twohawksfucking]

@tinySpectacle Thanks, Lo. I often worry if I've over-orchestrated the break lines... You never know, for sure, whether what you're trying is working--until you let it rip. And, like I always used to tell my students in speech class: Hey, it's Ohio--who'll notice? (Same applies to Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin--at least in my experience.)

My best to you, and again so sorry to hear about those damnable budget cuts!

Roy

[tinySpectacle]

Nice line break on "enough"/  An excellent poem, Roy. i really like how it shifts into the the attendants pov at the end. I love feeling lucky--it is the ability to feel grateful and that goes a long way in securing happiness.

[twohawksfucking]

@rpVerlaine Thanks. I'll post another this morning since you seem to get such a kick out of them--you and DRC and tinySpectacle keep me going on here.

[rpVerlaine]

A fine work that made my morning. With a brilliant final line open ended enough to both hint and reveal at the same time.

[twohawksfucking]

@DavidRandallCurtis Thanks, David. This new camera is a bit baffling, but I'm trying...

Roy

[DavidRandallCurtis]

Faved and shared on fb. Great work.