Sharon's Hedge

Out iof Control

By: Melissa Cummings - Jan 16, 2016

Sharon's Hedge


If you heard what happened
having lived forty years
across the street
from Sharon's hedge
having seen the car
so wrapped around
the telephone pole
its head lights faced
heard Sharon yelling
"My hedge!  My hedge!"
the driver race
behind number ten sixty one
to the woods to avoid
proof of intoxication
to die later on a bar room floor
leaving his dad with one
of the three sons

You weren't surprised

Having seen another car
surrounded by pre teen boys
"Lookit the guy's head!
It's all bloody!"
"Lookit the keg!"
Same pole same hedge
unscathed as the four drunks
same as the New Yorker
knocked out of his shoes
by the cabbie we promised
to testify for

This third time  was
a Smart Car and a Camry
ambulances and a chopper
landing in the ball field
before heading to Boston
the bloody dog taken in
by the neighbor
lavender bits of car
on both sides of the road
tail light parts and white plastic
on Washington near Young

As frozen snow left by high water
lines marsh and sand
Rustling could be
a mountaineering coat
or Pistenmaas' dog
up Barker Ave
Either a large boat
far away
Or a small boat
close
And a pine tree fell
against a neighbor
pulling up roots and earth
creating a cave for rain
then ice perhaps animals