valvoline man pulls an empty mouse nest
out from under the hood of my jeep
puts it in trashcan behind him
what was that? don’t worry about it
it happens all of the time
you’d be surprised. i am!
first, i drive this car everyday
it has high mileage you just said so
how did it survive? where is the mouse?
were there children in there???
what a nightmare for the mother
every morning that engine starts up
must shake her to her darling
little mousy bones-her shoulders
spin on the axle of her collarbone
as she scoops up what? 1,2,3, of them?
second, i live in town on a street of stray cats
whom have made quite a game of steals
under my lattice like toddlers on a slip and slide
birds scatter! why wouldn’t a little mouse?
OH DEAR GOD what if she runs back & forth
squeaking like metal in the pumpkin of my four wheel drive?
third, the man in the bay next to me
is rolling his eyes and mouthing the word
m-o-n-e-y while he rubs his fingers together
“HOW DID YOU EVEN DRIVE IT IN HERE?”
just change the oil and do the differential
isn’t that enough for you, daryl? isn’t that enough?