Ruining A Good Thing Poem by f. berhan kebede

The veins on her hands filled in the conversation that she neglected to mention
Whether it was on purpose was not of my concern
Or shouldn’t be
I was driving and she was along for the ride
where we were driving to is irrelevant to you and leaving it out of this poem
Seems a bit rude because, for me, things usually are nowadays
This was not one of those things
Because I convinced myself it wasn’t
braking and pumping my leg on the gas was a battle of two worlds I could not control
Packed in that little car
Puttering along
As I foolishly described the band playing which she had obviously never heard of
not many have heard of them because they were young and reckless and
Local
Driving for well over an hour I noticed her hands right away and didn’t take a second look
But held the image as tight as my steering wheel
Swinging in and out of lanes and thoughts
With no signal
Or plan
Except to get this lovely woman to where she needed to be
Away
ME?
I was a new man full of life and a bright future ahead of me when thinking of those hands
which have seen much more than she was letting on