Pay greater attention to the car,
it was a gift. A gift! A car!
Yes, an old used car, but all the more reason!
Listen to those weird noises that might not
be the road.
Look at that back left wheel, where the sound
is coming from. Notice the scrap of rusted
metal lodged in there, scraping.
It’s part of a dust shield on the wheel,
and the car can go without it. Thank God!
Look at the clock, how it’s an hour and five
minutes off. The hour comes from Daylight
Saving Time, but what about that five minutes?
It’s time to read the manual. Figure out how
to reset the clock and use the CD player.
Understand the heating and cooling better.
Find the manual trunk release button again
in case the keychain button stops working.
Check the oil. It will be scary and messy,
but check the oil. Remember how
you used to check the oil on the old gray
Chevrolet. It wasn’t that hard.
While you are in Responsible Mode,
delete some of those four hundred emails
you don’t need. Organize your files
in the folder called “Organize These Files.”
Clean out the refrigerator. Clean the oven.
These machines are the gifts of the 20th
Century. Do not neglect these machines,
as they are planning to take over the world,
and you need to be on their good side.
Oh, you are old. Forgive yourself for things
you don’t know how to do, or want to do,
because your world is roiling behind you
like the wake of a ship. Rise above it.
Levitate via imagination and look down.
See yourself in or as a smaller boat
with a smaller wake. It is beautiful,
a gentle rippling “V” on the surface
of the water, feathering out by way
of physics, viscosity, density, tension,
turbulence. The farther you go,
on smoother waters, the longer
and wider the visible, then invisible
trail, as your recent path dissolves.
You won’t need motor or oar.
You are the machine.
— Babs
it was a gift. A gift! A car!
Yes, an old used car, but all the more reason!
Listen to those weird noises that might not
be the road.
Look at that back left wheel, where the sound
is coming from. Notice the scrap of rusted
metal lodged in there, scraping.
It’s part of a dust shield on the wheel,
and the car can go without it. Thank God!
Look at the clock, how it’s an hour and five
minutes off. The hour comes from Daylight
Saving Time, but what about that five minutes?
It’s time to read the manual. Figure out how
to reset the clock and use the CD player.
Understand the heating and cooling better.
Find the manual trunk release button again
in case the keychain button stops working.
Check the oil. It will be scary and messy,
but check the oil. Remember how
you used to check the oil on the old gray
Chevrolet. It wasn’t that hard.
While you are in Responsible Mode,
delete some of those four hundred emails
you don’t need. Organize your files
in the folder called “Organize These Files.”
Clean out the refrigerator. Clean the oven.
These machines are the gifts of the 20th
Century. Do not neglect these machines,
as they are planning to take over the world,
and you need to be on their good side.
Oh, you are old. Forgive yourself for things
you don’t know how to do, or want to do,
because your world is roiling behind you
like the wake of a ship. Rise above it.
Levitate via imagination and look down.
See yourself in or as a smaller boat
with a smaller wake. It is beautiful,
a gentle rippling “V” on the surface
of the water, feathering out by way
of physics, viscosity, density, tension,
turbulence. The farther you go,
on smoother waters, the longer
and wider the visible, then invisible
trail, as your recent path dissolves.
You won’t need motor or oar.
You are the machine.
— Babs
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