by Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco
On our way north,
red brake lights
slam like doors.
We see debris
before we see anything
else:
a half-rolled license
plate, glass stars
ground into dirt.
The car is smashed
in on itself—rain
streaks along each
shattered window. A man
bends
down with his hands flat
on his thighs
to see inside,
his shoulders
tight. Someone has put out
flares.
The thing I can’t
believe
is the man’s MAGA
hat, clean like it is new,
holding the rain up
off his face.
I have to read it twice
to get it’s not
a joke, and then
it aches
and I’m ashamed,
the afterimage of the hat
and the wrecked car
drifting with me
all day long
like floating leaves.
On our way north,
red brake lights
slam like doors.
We see debris
before we see anything
else:
a half-rolled license
plate, glass stars
ground into dirt.
The car is smashed
in on itself—rain
streaks along each
shattered window. A man
bends
down with his hands flat
on his thighs
to see inside,
his shoulders
tight. Someone has put out
flares.
The thing I can’t
believe
is the man’s MAGA
hat, clean like it is new,
holding the rain up
off his face.
I have to read it twice
to get it’s not
a joke, and then
it aches
and I’m ashamed,
the afterimage of the hat
and the wrecked car
drifting with me
all day long
like floating leaves.
Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco lives in California and co-edits One Sentence Poems. Her chapbooks Various Lies and Lion Hunt are available from Finishing Line Press and forthcoming from Plan B Press, respectively.
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