January 26, 2026Riding in the Trunk to the Drive-in Movie Because You Are 16 and Want to See Teenage Devil Dolls with Your Girlfriends, Drink a Bottle of Pilfered Mogen David, and You Don’t Have the Price of Admission
because you can
fold your petite body
around the spare tire
like a crime victim
then a deep breath
before the trunk lid closes
you know your friends
will let you out
the drive is short never mind
the heady scent of the blue
gas station rags reeking
of Pennzoil before the lid closes
or the clang of the small tool
box that rattles like bones
over the city-loud pavement
or that the spare tire is a heavy
muscular thing smelling
of darkness and creosote
that you cling to
though it clogs
your brain
so this is what it’s like
this darkened place
for the reward
of a teen slasher movie
on a torn white screen
at the far end
of a gravel parking lot
from #90 – Winter 2025
