Nowadays
(Original Version)
Sometimes I imagine I get in the car
& it takes me to where you want to go
only I deviate to some country road
gas station with manual pumps &
car grease on the floor. The salesclerk
scoffs at my choice of drink & tells me
about his Mama who ain’t doing so well nowadays.
I nod as if I had been there while she cooked eggs & grits
on the stove with a single working burner,
regal in her bathrobe, accessorized
in curlers and cigarettes, she’d go on,
gossiping about the town & the price
of gas is blasphemous, but that very inflation
is what keeps junior employed
& me, captive to Dr. Pepper judgement
& the empty prayers of a man-child who
turns out didn’t pump my gas after all
Nowadays
(Re(En)Visioned)
&
Sometimes I imagine I’m in the car
mapped, takes me to where he
deviates to some country
gas station with manuals
&
car grease on its floor. The salesclerk
scoffs at the choice of drink
talking about his Mama who ain’t doing so well.
I nod as if there while this woman cooked eggs
&
grits over the stove with a sole working burner,
regal in a terry bathrobe, accessorized
in curlers, cigarettes, she’d go on,
about the town
&
how the price
of gas is nowadays, but that very inflation
keeps junior employed, captive to Dr. Pepper,
under empty prayers
&
dreaming ‘bout a man-child who
sadly didn’t pump my gas
© 2020 Carrie Teresa Sage
Carrie Teresa Sage is an English professor in the School of Arts and Sciences at Marymount University. In addition to her position at Marymount, she is also a member of the English faculty at the University of Maryland – Global Campus. Sage holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from George Mason University, a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing (poetry) from Queens University of Charlotte, and a Master of Arts in communication & public relations from Johns Hopkins University. Sage is currently working towards her first collection of essays and prose and is also a part-time freelance writer for various style and media publications.
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