He said he was thinking about getting a second car,

something dirt cheap that he wouldn’t have to worry about

as the weather began to get worse.

 

And if anyone is posting such a thing on the classifieds

or operates a dealership that sells them,

I’d like a winter beater version of my entire life –

 

a vehicle of self I could use for four to six months

and not care if it gets dirty or bruised,

a me that could not only handle salty roads

 

and icy temperatures, but hear out overtalkers,

vigorously defend itself against passive aggression

and respond to being dumped on by plowing through.

 

I wouldn’t pay very much for it, but I’d appreciate

an extra “I” that could subsist on the crudest kind of fuel

and still somehow start on the days it gets so cold

 

you spend too long indoors, without distractions

from the dead who failed you, and from the living

you’re currently in the process of failing.

 

The luxury would be to drive my lustreless life

into the ground, and when it began to fall apart

it would be okay, because for once

 

I’d have expected nothing more and somewhere,

untouched from all the elements,

would sit the psyche I’d parked until spring