What is this poem about a car accident?
July 7, 2012 3:02 PM Subscribe
Please help me find this poem about a car crash. I think it's from the New Yorker. Two drivers are in a car crash, and then they yell at each other until one of them says "wow, we were both scared," and then they feel better. Well, something like that.
Neither person in the poem is seriously injured, and they seem to bond a little bit by the end of the piece as they both admit that their panic is what made them lash out at one another. I guess this description makes it sound dumb and corny, but it's was poignant and lovely and simple. I read this poem in the last five years.
Other aspects I remember but can't swear to (you know, at poetry court, where you mustn't perjure yourself):
++ I think it was set in New England, and possibly in Vermont
++ I think the poet is a woman, and I think the poem is the first person
++ I think the other driver is also a woman
++ I'm 90 percent sure I read this in New Yorker because I'm not a huge consumer of poetry generally, but it's possible it was somewhere else
My Google fu has totally failed me. Is this ringing any poetry bells for anyone?
posted by Charity Garfein to media & arts (3 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
posted by restless_nomad at 3:30 PM on July 7, 2012 [9 favorites]