MONDAY: Driving

BY ANNE MESQUITA

This is a series of poems. Copyright is held by the author.

Driving Lesson
We lived on Elm Place, the street
that formed a horseshoe with the next.

My father asked me, age six, if I wanted to drive —
let me sit on his lap in the driver’s seat.

He’d work the pedals, help me steer.
I gripped the molded wheel, drove slowly around the block,

felt at the helm of an ocean liner.
We passed the dirt walking path, rows of pine trees.

I thrilled to pass our neighbours’ shingled homes
while the families remained inside, ignorant of our crime.

Driving Lesson, Reprised
Dad suggested I put the car in the reverse
and steer backwards

through the empty college parking lots
because you get a better feel for the steering.

Driving that station wagon was to navigate
a long, wide boat through choppy waters,

but he was pleased. Good start, he said,
leaning back in his seat. You’re better than your sister.

Unlearning to Drive
Dad had a fender bender
at the Food Emporium Parking Lot,
hit a parked car.

Mom started to notice the car parked strangely
in the driveway, way over by the heather.
Better to stop driving. The doctor agreed.

Lost
In July, I drive my father
to his support group
across the county.

After I drop him at the church,
I’m caught in a mire of No Left Turns,
one-way streets, getting lost.

I arrive late to meet him, blotchy-faced.
He waits in the parking lot with the psychologist
who runs the sessions for men in early stages of the illness.

I’m sorry, I say.
I got lost.
So many one-way streets.

I know how that is,
he says, eyes widening.
I‘ve gotten lost myself.

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Image of Anne Mesquita

Anne Mesquita (she/her) studies poetry at the Hudson Valley Writers Center. Her poems have appeared in Red Eft Review, Right Hand Pointing, The Marbled Sigh, and The San Antonio Review. She works at Columbia University in library administration. She lives in New York with her husband and daughter. 

3 comments
  1. So relatable. Very well done.

  2. A story within a poem: both kept me reading! Thank you.

  3. So much time compressed so well

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