one lucky dog

by Marc Darnell

he was fifteen his
ford pinto crossed
the yellow dashes
slow as a curling
stone the semi
clipped and tossed
him into his seven-
day coma with
snapped legs pelvis
crushed in three
places severing the
sexual web of nerves
or one nerve the
creation nerve he
didn't understand
why the surgeon
didn't reconnect it
to return him to a
man had science not
advanced don't nerves
grow back now fifty-
six no masturbation
no dates no marriage
no kids only relatives
suspicious smiling
only one razor-blade
night two chickened-
out hangings one
trazodone o.d. not bad
for four decades but
look at it this way
at least he wasn't
paralyzed