Popular Mechanics

there’s “Whitey”

at the Esso station

and then

there’s “Theo”

at the Gulf station.

for a time my old man drove

a 1950 pea-green flat-head

Ford two-door coupe which

Chuck Berry himself immortalized

in his song: "you can't catch me" 

("here come a flat top he come movin' up with me..")

but when it broke down permanently

it was stationed in the backyard

at 1017 Bedford.

In the winter I’d sit behind the wheel

shifting through the gears.

there were three forward

gears and one reverse gear.

the only gears I’d run through

from the back of my throat

were 1st, 2nd and 3rd

activated from the column.

the clutch was drying out

of its necessary lubricant

and shifting became hard to do.

winter made matters worse.

the vapor from my mouth seemed to be

a prelude to smoking cigarettes.

the engine couldn’t start

but the little button

protruding from the dashboard

allowed the mechanism to turn

the engine's crankshaft, agonizing

its impossible mission–– and then,

well, soon enough, that failed, too.