Ode To Mama’s Oldsmobile

Just what became of my mother’s old
baby blue Olds; outdated
when I was a small child,
it’s the earliest car in my memory.

A veritable boat;
it must have been a 455 because
I loved the way that V-8 marvel
would fly around the country backroads
every weekend.

It didn’t have A/C,
so we would roll down the windows,
the wind whipping through our hair,
on roads no cop would waste time on.

I vowed to have a car just like it
when I grew up,
but my lead-footed Mama
quickly disabused me of that notion,
wanting more for her little girl.

When she showed up to pick me up
from school one day in something small and white,
I howled with pain
and sobbed endlessly.

Now I live in a city,
where it is too much of a hassle to drive.
I think often of my halcyon days
soaring down backroads,
fresh air tickling at my nostrils, and
the wind blowing tangles into my hair.

Originally from southern Kentucky, Rose Menyon Heflin is a poet and artist living in Wisconsin who enjoys nature and travel. Although currently busy cyanotyping, screenprinting, and photographing plants and cranes, she enjoys working in a variety of media. Among other venues, her poetry has recently been published or is forthcoming in 50 Haikus, Ariel Chart, Asahi Haikuist Network, Bramble, The Closed Eye Open, The Daily Drunk, Deep South Magazine, Dreich Magazine, Eastern Structures, The Ekphrastic Review, Haikuniverse, The Light Ekphrastic, Littoral Magazine, Please See Me, Plum Tree Tavern, THE POET, Poetry and Covid, Red Alder Review, Red Eft Review, Sparked Literary Magazine, The Texas Poetry Calendar, Three Line Poetry, Trouvaille Review, Visual Verse, The Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar, The Writers Club, and various anthologies. Her poetry recently won a 2021 Merit Award from Arts for All Wisconsin.

Photo credits:

Photo credits: Cover and inspiration photograph Berwyn car spindle by Carol Highsmith. U.S. Library of Congress. Other photos in order of appearance: Hombre, Callum Pastuszak, Lili Kovac, Erik Mclean, Veronika Bykovich, Pat Whelen, Ian Keefe and Brandi Redd from Unsplash.