Summer Vacation 1963 Revised

No matter how much gas you put in the tank,

it does not mend a broken piston.

Two or three or some-other-number

days wait for a replacement, here,

on the northeast side of

We-Got-Lost, Canada.

Or a local farmer might maybe make

alliterations and altercations to a

tractor engine

sufficient reshaping for a

Sturdy American Sedan,

crammed full of adults, teens and

One Small Child,

who wonders if the bats

flying against the window

are vampires and if they

break that window,

will they kill her?

One Small Child, wrapped

smaller still, huddled under the

bed, so she can’t see

that big window with no curtain,

those fluttering wings, or

hear the high pitched squeaks

that sound just like her, when she hid

in the backseat footwell

to avoid her brothers’ pinches.

Perhaps the farmer can reshape

her small enough to

box her and

ship her

home.