My Stolen Car – Tom Hunley

My neighbor steals my car
part by part, first
the starter, then
the carburetor, the spark plugs.
My car sputters out

of my neighbor’s driveway.
The cigarette I’m smoking
on my front porch
dwindles, puff by puff.
I’m killing myself

a drag at a time,
and I think of how I never
really knew my neighbor
as I watch a speeding car
hit him head on
right there on our cul-de-sac.

I think of how
everything gets taken,
little by little,
away from us.

That was my car.
That was my neighbor.
So I’m giving my porch,
one board at a time,
to his widow.

I’ll keep giving until my house
is just an addition onto hers.
Then I’ll put on my best suit,
buy some roses,
and ring her doorbell,
which used to be mine.