Somewhere in the ‘20s that would have been,
when a man learned about magnetos and mudholes,
when he took care not to break an elbow or thumb
when twirling a crank, carried a cake of soap
for a squeaky fan belt and a pinch of oatmeal
to seal a radiator leak, knew that somewhere
on a back road he’d borrow a fence rail for a jack,
have to back up the steepest hills
when the engine was starved for gas—
small bits of lore from a time long gone,
as he is, but strong in his memory
as he is in mine, lips still moving in some silent language,
still telling me stories I really want to hear.
© David Black, 2018
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| Woman hand cranking the car to start it on a rainy day, August 1926 Photo by Infrogmation of New Orleans from Wikimedia Commons |
