by Carol Barrett

Yes Boys It’s My Truck: sign

on black platinum SUPER DUTY Ford,

six feet off the ground, in line

in front of me for coffee at Dutch Bros.

As we make the curve, I see

she’s a 20ish brunette sporting

another sign on the back

window: Look Pretty Play Dirty.

She lowers her sleek rig to place

the order: an extra large, mounds

of whipped cream. As she slips

her card into the hand-held device,

I notice the license plate frame:

Classy Sassy And (then the number)

Whole Lotta Bad Assy!

She raises her hydraulic body

back to primal position, above

it all, tools off, foot-wide tires

screeching in the narrow drive.

I want my usual, try to sip routine.

Hard to shake this revving

commotion assaulting my senses.

Then I realize: she defies much

graver assaults. Go girl, go!

Carol Barrett has published three volumes of poetry, most recently READING WIND, and one of creative nonfiction. An NEA Fellow in Poetry, she has lived in nine states and in England. Carol's poems appear in JAMA, The Women's Review of Books, Nimrod, Poetry International, and in over sixty anthologies.