Monday, December 10, 2007

Studebaker II

RESTORING A CLASSIC
10 December 2007, 9:02 AM

Restoring a Studebaker
has to do a number on the mind:
blasting the paint from rusted
panels, carefully tapping away
dents and dremeling the rough spots,
restoring what’s been lost- bumpers
and bearings and broken fenders.

The man as old and oxidized
as the lost-cause car works his fingers
to the bone to prove the object of his
labor is not beyond redemption.

And after the primer, after the paint,
after the newly upholstered
seats and dashboard, oiled to a luster,

he finds the old leather bomber jacket,
dry and cracked and fading,
turns the key, throws the transmission;
time in reverse, showered and clean shaven,

almost new again, for just a moment, brief,

the wind in what little hair is left, peaking out
from under the suede cabbie,
a gentleman and his classic once again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you continued your Studebaker story. I see the wind in his hair.

George MacDonald

"Home is ever so far away in the palm of your hand, and how to get there it is of no use to tell you. But you will get there; you must get there; you have to get there. Everybody who is not at home, has to go home."

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