A spin across the border
Up to Canada I go
But as the guards interrogate
My engine starts to slow.
A bit of coaxing later
There’s a spitter-sputter-spop!
And off I go, yet unaware
I won’t make it to my stop.
I travel down the highways
91 and 99
Going Northward to Vancouver
And my truck’s still going fine.
I pull into a left turn lane
And my heart can only drop
‘Cause the green arrow says “go”
And my engine says “nah, stop.”
And so I try a jump start
To no avail, I hate to say.
911 responds and sends
A friendly tow truck on its way.
The nicest driver ever
Hooks up chains and ropes and all
And we drive back to America
Truck as f***ed up as Darth Maul.
Now a tow truck is a large machine
That can’t turn on a dime
And the driver drops me kindly
At the border crossing line.
I wait and wait and wait and wait
Until the light turns green
And thus begins the uphill push
Of my alternator-less machine.
I push up to the crossing
Halfway out and halfway in
$270 Canadian poorer
But back where I said “begin.”
So for a second tow I wait
Watching hour hands tick by.
If this poem’s unusually thoughtful, well
You know the reason why.