learning to drive
our son is learning to drive
nostalgia defined
driving is freedom
finally wresting away adult control
especially in a town where public transport
is thin
and walking is hot, long, and dull
driving is James Dean, is Khalid
and everyone in between
who champions the sheer
nihilism and explosion
of adolescence
today, however,
driving looks like practicing stops and starts in a parking lot
with me, an almost sixty year old mom
who is letting go
and feeling the roller coaster ride
accelerate into a terrifying plunge
as our steady handed son
moves the dial to drive
and goes twelve miles per hour
for the first time
he’s the one in charge
Technologies have changed
he’s learning to drive an electric car
which sometimes senses a shrub’s overhang
and slams on the brakes
I learned to drive on a stick shift Honda Civic
small, red, and tin box light
Our new Subaru is red
but bottom heavy with battery
and built like a tank
In thirty years, when magnet trains zoom between cities in North America,
from Mexico City to Calgary with stops at Albuquerque and Denver
and all cars are electric
he’s going to say I learned to drive electric from day one