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Peacewagen

Milton had all the most admirable bumper stickers
boycott veal, prochild-prochoice, can't we all just get along
in fact, a good person could get
just about all the advice she needed
from the back of his Bug
in one stoplight
 
he was fluent in multiculturalism and biodiversity
you could tell by the peace signs and color-coded ribbons
dangling from the rear view mirror
like a ponytail
 
the latest voices of social conscience resounded
from his removable stereo
rappers, earthy folk singers, world music
 
there was even a dent in the wheel-well
left by a police car pushing through the anti-war barricade
near the Golden Gate bridge

to the unseen, the underserved, the underprivileged
his Peacewagen was a beacon of hope
in the darkness of societal inertia
a statement of what was really going down
 
man, that car had character

at least until last Friday, that is
when, riding to work at the shelter
his girlfriend had her face
blown off for being zebra
 
I bet when he gets all the blood and glass and teeth
out of the backseat
he trades in
 

© Shelley Harrison
www.shelleyharrison.com