Oh Dear It’s Our Last Day of Vacation

Claudia McGill 9 Comments

Oh Dear It’s Our Last Day of Vacation

what started it I don’t know but
in saturated Technicolor style
one fine afternoon a fast car a choice of roads
and you took the one along the coast
one hand on the wheel and why not?
the afternoon is hard shadows and
straight at us sunshine what a day and
while you exclaim at what the car can do
I’ll show you some speed you say
I wonder if there is any chance
I could persuade you not to but
I lose the thought when
you slide into the hairpin turn
like the road was greased-up
with that suntan oil bottles and bottles
I’ve slathered on me and then
my purse slides out of my lap
the car bottoms out
we bounce in our seats
to the twang of shocked springs
and I think none of this can be good
for the poor car suspension and axles and so on
but it was not something I needed to worry about
in exactly that way as it turns out
You don’t seem to hear the screams
instead you point out the view
as we plunge over the cliff

6/27/19

9 thoughts on “Oh Dear It’s Our Last Day of Vacation”

  2. Oh my! This poem reminds me of driving along the Amalfi Coast. It was terrifying because of the road’s proximity to the sheer drop into the sea and then things got worse because we got a flat tire. We limped into Salerno, I had to quickly teach myself all the relevant phrases in Italian, and we found a garage in a narrow back street where they replaced our blown tire. My nerves were shredded. We decided not to drive that route again and instead we took a boat trip the next day.

    • I think of the Pacific Coast highway in California similarly. I was terrified the whole way and expecting to plunge over the edge which thankfully we never came near to doing, but still…I have trouble driving along River Road along the Delaware in Bucks county, to be honest.

        • I can;t even take a simple drive along the Delaware River out in the country in Bucks County, if we go in that area we have to find other roads. Because I shut my eyes and scream the whole way and it’s not even that scary. I just hate drop-offs…into water…

  3. I’m thinking of my younger brother driving us to our older brother’s wedding in Yellowstone. No guard rails! But, as you can tell, I survived. (K)

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