Endless Lawn XXV
You’ll have to push the image of a swanky mech being piloted by a charismatic young hero out of your mind, or you might be disappointed.
For Wayne II
The machine got a gold tooth today.
Not a real tooth.
I mean a bolt.
And it looks gold,
but that’s just zinc coating
to help ward off corrosion.
It wasn’t a choice made in vanity,
though the machine
is an extension of my will.
The tooth, or bolt, was found,
purchased, and installed out of necessity.
Now it helps to secure the right arm
of the handle to the chassis.
It cuts great,
no longer unbalanced or unwieldy.
I could’ve asked Mr. S.
to replace the part earlier this spring
when he was sharpening the blade
and repairing the pull chord mechanism,
but I forgot.
May be you would have forgotten too,
for his workshop
is home to the innumerable parts
and tools necessary to his craft.
On those days when I enter the shade
of the atelier, I first behold the familiar trappings of any garage.
But then I start to see through it,
to the specialized apparatus
either hanging suspended on walls,
tucked away in corners,
or unseen, hidden
in small, neatly-labeled drawers.
Perplexing and varied
are the devices and instruments.
Bottles and jugs of potions,
cleaners, oils, and lubricants
whose deep and rich odors suffuse
the place drag my mind
back to the parts yard
and mechanic bays
where I worked for my father.
Here in Mr. S’s garage,
mowers and half-built contraptions
are organized neatly
beside his lovely machine.
And although the legacy of my father’s pride
will not allow me to write too many kind words
about a Chevrolet,
it is a handsome vehicle:
created in the year of 1966 (common era),
beetle-shell green,
three-on-the-tree.
When he pops the hood,
there is the air filter, wide
and grinning its baleen smile.
Mr. S. recounted the story of its purchase,
I collected my little orange machine,
and I left.
Now it has a gold tooth.
I like to think that my father
would be satisfied with my mowing today,
and not too angry that I recall fondly a C-10.
(For Dad, this time of year always makes me think of him. He always kept and appreciated a tidy garage and a well-built machine.)
T. Evans, June 2023
