May 1980

First Car Totaled

Pink stickers appeared on our block
One Sunday morning.
My old wreck along with the others
Looked as if it had been kissed by some painted hussy,
A cheap trick -
Twenty-four hours to move or be towed
Away with all the other jacked-up,
Tireless, mangled heaps parked on the street.
I guess it was just our turn.
I had procrastinated three months,
Knowing a deadline would finally break
The bond of guilt and ownership.
But I would not sever it myself.
If I had sold it at my leisure
With an ad in the Sunday Trading Post,
I could have gotten a hundred and fifty, ... perhaps.
But no, greed could not be our parting word.
So it went to a man for seventy-five bucks.
Walking to my local bar,
I bought drinks and had a proper wake.

Michael S. Simpson
I remember it well: relief, regret, and a dash of guilt-- an artfully mixed cocktail, Lil!

eleanor prince
I love the immediacy of this candid write

John X. McCullagh
well done, Lillian

sonetta
ha..sometimes things are just too dear for us to let go until circumstances force us to do so.....