Just Don't Think About It

The rear end of a trash truck was bright in the darkness
My brain designed the arrangement of lights as a face
In an all too typical fit of pareidolia
Though definitely a mechanical version of one
Just a rough outline of five white lights
With one steadily flashing orange one at top center

Awaiting an input perhaps

George Harrison played on my radio
Another cheerful song
About some serious subject

And my mind wanders
Back to serious things
That I normally keep tucked away

Orange flashing light
George Harrison
Fucked up thoughts

I wish they'd go away

So I pass the now disapproving face of lights
That ass end of a speeding trash truck
Revealing open road ahead
Lined by all the multi-colored reflectors
That everyone wants to put at the end of their driveways
On their mailboxes
Corner posts
And unique family signs
Each trying so hard to be one of a kind
That they all bleed together into a kaleidoscope of colors
One not being distinct from another, really

George finishes his song
To reveal a sudden
"Burt Watson Chevrolet!
The only Chevrolet dealer by the airport!"
Distraction

I think of other things

More pleasant things

I bump up the cruise control a couple of times

And I drive on

- FDR22NOV2021

That Elderly Aircraft Mechanic's Lament

Gather thy nuts and bolts while ye may
For as the years grow colder
The fingers lack flex and closure
While the worms gnaw away inside

Until a husk of yourself is all that is left
An eggshell thin and fragile
Which would crack at the slightest shamble
Unable to bend and pick the FOD upon the ground

To grasp and pull upon that expensive wrench

Feels as a knife edge upon the fingers

A conundrum and conflict of a sort

For your skin turned to thick leather years ago

Too poor to quit

Too old to rehire

Is this that that awaits us

As we yearn to retire?

The Union stole your pension

The recession ate your 401K

Family emergencies sucked those savings

So you go in again every single day

Grind the corrosion

Flush patch the flaw

R&R a constant speed prop

Rig those flight controls

~A pause to sign your life away~

Account for all your many tools

Wipe down and slip into shadowed trays

Receive your Charles Taylor award

And keep on going until you can't

-FDR30JUN2021