Amanda Ray, Central Michigan University

I’ll probably be fine
controlling this giant
hunk of metal going fifty
miles per hour with just a foot
and some gangly phalanges
but I’m thinking about how
they say you’re more likely
to get in a car accident
than a plane crash
and how there is always
some traffic accident
on the news. I look out
my rear view mirror
to make sure sedans aren’t falling
into the river from a crack
in the concrete. Maybe I’m grasping
too tight, but sometimes, for a moment,
I forget my left from my right,
the brake from the gas, and wonder
if maybe one day I’ll forget that
my favorite snack used to be Goldfish,
or how I’d catch little yellow moths
with my hands during first-grade recess.
Now, there’s a guy turning right
in the left turn lane and I’m reminded
of why I should never, ever leave
my house if I want to live
to see the day I get married,
if that day ever comes.
Odds are I’ll be caught
conversing with myself
and he’ll drive off with everything
but the extra TV remote and a pen
to sign the divorce papers with.
How would I explain that to the children?
What if I put them in the car seat wrong?

Amanda Ray is a senior at Central Michigan University majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and minoring in psychology. Her poetry has been published in The Central Review and Grand Central Magazine’s “The Creative Issue.” She hopes to continue writing poetry and fiction after she graduates in May.