Rattlesnake Road

Monday

07Dec2009

stranded on Rattlesnake road
dusty country road
a dead battery
father came to
pick me up

paul applebaum
tow truck driver
my father’s acquaintance
would take me back
and give me a jump

I told my father
no
told him the way
paul examined
my newly developing body
told him the way
paul would lick his lips

morning’s rise
my father off to work
ignoring my second plea

the tow truck
grinding rock
up our long
gravel driveway
paul’s wavy grey hair
shampooed
pulled back neatly
introducing apples
to cigarettes

driving down
toward Rattlesnake
grasping the door handle
ignoring paul’s hand
on my thigh

thinking of my father
wondering
why
he had let
his
bone-dry daughter
into shark infested water