Suspension

More bumpy-bumpy, daddy, my daughter calls out

I flick the wheel and find the gap of a manhole cover

Buckled snug in her carseat, she wobbles and claps

And calls for another

On the street next to mine, the county heard the cries

Of neighbors awash with racers and crank drivers

And built speed bumps, one on each side of me

I can’t avoid them no matter where I go

My daughter cheers with each rise and fall

And I feel my tires wince even as I laugh along

Pothole or traffic calmer, man-made or degraded,

I turn now towards the things I used to dodge

And slap patches on each budding slow-leak to see her filled