Advice to the Traumatized Coyote in the Passenger Seat of My Tow Truck
#54 of poetry
Writing from the point of view of a character with a vocal tic of adding "-yeah?" to the ends of sentences makes meter easy.
Obviously this is speculative, and future releases may render it incompatible with canon.
Marked adult not because of content, but because the source material is Adults Only and expressly not for minors.
I'm not the guy you come to for advice
Unless it's on what not to do. Besides
You shouldn't take just anyone's advice.
You don't mind if I ramble on a bit?
Save you the grief of making small talk, yeah?
Besides, there isn't much to see out here:
Just tumbleweeds, tarantulas, and ghosts.
You're worried, yeah? I guess you've seen some shit.
I know the place you've been too goddamn well,
I've seen the kinda shit you must have seen.
I don't know, I don't want to know, the damn
Specifics, but you look like you've seen shit.
But now you're out. Your boy'll be ok.
I'll drop you at the hospital, alright,
Before I drag this thing to the garage?
I won't promise, I guess, that everything
Is gonna be alright. This kinda shit,
It stays with you. It hurts you. But it hurts
A little less after the years go by.
The old wounds stay, but they don't bleed no more:
Becoming old wounds is what new wounds do.
I guess I'll say it'll be more allright
Than it is right now, yeah?
I saw that look.
You think that I don't get it. But I do.
I read you well enough to figure out
The look that you were wearing when they shut
Ambulance doors and carried him away.
You... worry on him, yeah? Let's call it that,
If you don't want to call it more than that
To some strange tow truck driver. Fair enough.
You worry what if he doesn't survive?
You worry if he does, what permanent
Impairment will his life be from now on?
You worry cause you know the kinda shit
You saw, and probably he saw some too?
And so you worry, how long will it take,
How many days, weeks, months, or maybe years
Before the pain gets big enough that it
Outweighs the love? When will he come around,
Agree with that cruel voice somewhere in there
That says that all of this was all your fault?
Ok, I guess I hit a nerve. I won't
Apologize for that. I've known a thing
Or two about the way love falls apart.
So I know what I'm talking about here
When I tell you it's probably not too late
To fix it.
Wait, what does 'straightsplaining' mean?
Is that some... zoomer word? Or is this one
Of all those stupid english idioms
I never learned?
Oh man. You thought I'm straight.
I gotta tell you, kid, that one's a first.
I used to have a couple friends, I guess,
Who'd never let me live that down. But no,
I do know what I'm talking about here.
Not everybody does, you know. Love is
Like ghosts. Not many people really seen
A ghost, but everybody tells a tale
As if they have. You get what I mean, yeah?
Well I've seen both. I watched the one destroy
The other, leaving nothing but a ghost.
This is the part where the advice you get
Is on what not to do. Don't let it go.
Don't hope that everything can just go back
To how it was before the trauma hit.
Don't run in circles. Don't pretend that it
Gets better on its own, because it won't.
Don't think you can protect him from the things
You both already went through, and pretend
There's nothing there to talk about. To talk
About whatever happened back there is
The only way you're gonna set before
You ossify apart. Then it's too late.
You might think talking's gonna hurt. You're right.
It won't make hours in hospital fly by.
But if there's anything that hurts as much
As knowing that the last time that you heard
The words "I love you" were the final time
You ever would, I don't know what it is.
Protect him from that, yeah? It's not too late
For him, and not for you.
When people leave
The stuff they know they need to say unsaid,
It drags you down, coyote, till you drown
In it, like anchors on your wrist. The dead
Are dead. As dead as that damn town.
You made it out alive. Means you can still
Be happy. And I truly hope you will.
Welp, here's the hospital. Best get inside.
Don't worry they won't let you see him, here,
They ain't no homophobes. And hey, if you
Need tips on like a not-too-cheap motel,
Or anything like that, around the town?
You got my number. When your boy gets well
I'll have your car fixed up.
See you around!