Published January 1, 2022
by Eva Walsh
(Waterford, Ireland)
It starts with a loosening of parts,
A rattle, a crank, and finally a sigh.
All the pieces that are meant to bolt together melt down and become fluid, seeping into cracks where they don't belong.
Things start to go "haywire" and the engine spurts.
And so, a battle begins, between the will to go on and the veil of defeat coming down…
One is told, replace a valve, tear out the gear box, trade in, up or down… anything for a solution and an easier ride.
The bills come in waves, and the pressure mounts.
The rattle and spurt of an engine on its' last legs gives way to surrender.
Old friends are parted and new ones made.
A warranty and soothing guarantee that won't let you down.
You leave the car garage lighter than when you first went in.
If only the mind were that simple, a necessary solution, costly, agonising but resolved.
A couple of years later, you jolt at a familiar sound, a clank, a thud, tyres not adjusting to the changing roads, worn parts now suddenly again in all the wrong places.
A different car dealer, doctor, mechanic, therapist, and worn-out hope.
You drive on, what else can you do?
Perhaps it's just a case of faulty parts.
Biography
Eva Walsh: I am an Irish young woman, passionate about poetry and raising awareness for mental health. I write because sometimes there is nothing else to do but let the pen and paper work.
This poem is included in Poetry World #2, published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in Dublin Poetry Magazine:
Outside Chance
by Olivia Heggarty
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