Waiting Rooms

Yes, I took my car to the repair shop this morning.  Fortunately, I got off lights, but it did get me thinking.

                                                            Waiting Rooms

                                              We practice with our possessions
                                              what we later learn about our lives:
                                              they can look so pretty and go so wrong.
                                              Out front is the new car showroom,
                                              all sizzle and shine, where customers
                                              coo over convertibles like newborns
                                              in a gleaming, glass-encased nursery.

                                              Back here is the geriatric ward, where
                                              we wait for a prognosis for our ageing
                                              autos. The stakes are dollars and cents,
                                              not life or death, but the tension is still
                                              there: we would smoke and pace if we could,
                                              like a worried husband in some old movie,
                                              as the T.V. infomercials expressly promise
                                              free, fast shipping if we order something
                                              before time runs out.

                                             Here no one mixes with the mechanics
                                             in their high tech but still greasy garage:
                                             it’s no YouTube birth video in which
                                             the doctor hugs the smiling mom.
                                             These technicians operate alone while
                                             we simply wait to see if it’s time
                                             to up the ante or pull the plug.