(a villanelle)
The car is looking older now
It has another scrape down low.
You really shouldn’t ask me how
It got that ding upon its bow,
That battle-scar that makes me know
The car is looking older now.
Don’t say I drove it like a plow
Across the parking lot – Oh no,
You really shouldn’t! Ask me how
I made a well-intentioned vow
To feed my sister’s cat. And, so
The car is looking older now,
At least she will not have a cow
Because her cat’s lost in the snow.
You really shouldn’t ask me how
I got these deep lines in my brow.
Just say, what’s done is done. For though
The car is looking older now
You really shouldn’t ask me how.
Penguin Poems 