Dead Driver's Girlfriend
(Pull In)
We kept on talking,
eyes misted windshields,
parked bodies
on the bed that was also a road,
as even the traffic
shut up to hear how you were
the youngest in the family, the
first to pass the driving-test, first
to start driving. In the light,
your Rover turned bright-scarlet;
In those days, the car
was still beautiful. One night,
its lustre turned predatory.
(Pulling In)
But the world would
have you, in the dark,
from the side of the highway –
in that instant, your face
a darting eyeball, open vowel.
(Pulled In)
But now, I want
only to remember
how you were
before you weren't, the way
you spoke of betterment, driven
to win, convinced this need
was universal. As you claim,
even now, to love me more.from The End Of His Orbit
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