6 hours ago
What makes this 20-something
Toyota Corolla Altis
a classic is how its bottom
got ravaged when I drove
myself, my priest, and my sponsor
to some Miaphysite church
built with scraps from a landfill
where I was freed from the devil
and made a slave to Christ,
as well as how its top
has deepened its shade of grey
through soot and sun-fixed stains,
why do we even bother
to spend any time at the car wash
when it's the tune-up that counts?
Inside, when the dish of water
balanced on the ecliptic
spills across this region
while lines more polar burn,
mold blossoms on the leather
of the handwheel and the gearshift,
dusting the pink origami
crane I've set on the dash
where once I tried to stand
an image of our Lord
flanked by his virgin Mother
and his cousin the Forerunner,
who hangs a string of prayer
beads from the rear-view mirror
when they better serve the pocket?
Toyota Corolla Altis
a classic is how its bottom
got ravaged when I drove
myself, my priest, and my sponsor
to some Miaphysite church
built with scraps from a landfill
where I was freed from the devil
and made a slave to Christ,
as well as how its top
has deepened its shade of grey
through soot and sun-fixed stains,
why do we even bother
to spend any time at the car wash
when it's the tune-up that counts?
Inside, when the dish of water
balanced on the ecliptic
spills across this region
while lines more polar burn,
mold blossoms on the leather
of the handwheel and the gearshift,
dusting the pink origami
crane I've set on the dash
where once I tried to stand
an image of our Lord
flanked by his virgin Mother
and his cousin the Forerunner,
who hangs a string of prayer
beads from the rear-view mirror
when they better serve the pocket?