Exhaust Fumes

She saw her life ebbing away—
with what? A sigh, a shrug, a
'well that didn't work did it?"–when
after the hard flush of change
she found there was still
gas in the tank, oil oozing,
hot stares in shop and street like
jump-leads firing her battery, the
engine idling, waiting for her
foot on the pedal to roar away from
husband, children, problems,
seeing them in her rear-view mirror as
shadows on the living room curtains
hazed with her exhaust fumes.