Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk Kitchen 4:25pm

The only two adolescent

car accidents

I was in

were with My Brother:

The First where I was driving

with a low rear tire I had neglected to fill

–it went flat on The Taconic

& Howard yelled “We’re On Ice!

Hit The Breaks!”

I listened & rolled Our Mother’s Volkswagon Squareback

into a cliff-side snow bank

and limped home with the spare put on

by kind fellow motorists

tutt-tutting about teenage drivers

The Second Howard was driving

when We were mistakenly headed

for The Holland Tunnel

so I directed My Brother to “Turn Here”

into a No U Turn

He listened

& pulled out into oncoming traffic

We got rear-ended

but were able to drive

His Baby Blue LTD home

I wrote a letter of apology

to the owner of the wrecked green Volvo

Who later said he had never

gotten a letter like that