1.
In the Gremlin he drove Chicago to NYC
And back again I-90 segueing into I-80
Outside Cleveland but neither Chicago
Nor NYC could be called his destination
Considering how upon arrival in one city
He turned back towards the other without
So much as getting out of the Gremlin.
For money he had a small inheritance
Plus some government disability payments
That he accessed at the ATM machines
In gas stations or in the motels where
He stayed every third or fourth night
But definitely at least one night per week
And he paid little attention to his meals.
2.
After months or years of Chicago/NYC
He began crisscrossing the country with
No particular rhyme or reason while in
His brain mentations came and went like
The fireflies that flitted in the gloaming
After long-ago picnics at Potawatomi Park.
However as winter came upon the Interstates
A more apt metaphor of his thoughts was
Snowflakes blown by winds like the one that
In a blizzard near King of Prussia Pennsylvania
Sent the Gremlin spinning on an overpass and
Plunging through the side rail as an apparition
Of the man he could have been appeared.
3.
This was the the man he could have been
Had he not had spent his life in the Gremlin,
The law school or medical school graduate,
Husband and father, grandparent, homework
Helper, dumb joke teller, dryer of tears, loving
And loved in return, and he wept at seeing
The man he could have been except in the
Last second or even in the final nanosecond
Of his wasted existence an amazing joy filled
His heart as the man he could have been
Disappeared and in that man's place he saw
A shining and spectacular vision of the man
He was irrevocably destined to be when the day
Of גְּאֻלָּה and מָשִׁיחַ at long last arrives! Amen.
Eventually I saw how beautiful women are
Stimulated by new tires on a man's car and
Ever since that realization dawned on me
I buy new tires whenever the possibility of
Liaison with a beautiful woman presents itself.
Isn't that awfully expensive? Yes and no.
Generally I pay around five hundred dollars
For four tires which is nothing to sneeze at
But look at it this way: beautiful women are
Nature's true masterpieces so if they want
New tires, well then, new tires they shall have.
As to why they want new tires, I have no idea
But many things in science remain unknown.
How aspirin works was a mystery until 1994.

He had been watching Meat Loaf videos
Or rather he watched the same video
Again and again, the performance of
Paradise by the Dashboard Light from
1979 or 1980 which was Meat Loaf's
Masterpiece and had received over
Forty-five million YouTube views and
Eleven thousand admiring comments
Since it first appeared on YouTube
Four years earlier. The very existence
Of the millions of Meat Loaf admirers
Reassured him like a quote from Seneca:
'Whatever time has passed is owned
'By death. Most of death is already gone.'
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