sit in your car

Photo by Juan Antonio Fatuarte León on Pexels

Sometimes you just have to sit in your car
recharge for a minute, breathe
drink half a bottle of water
eat, like, ten almonds
You sit there
because wherever you’re going next
is chaos
and wherever you just came from
is chaos
And that damn brain of yours
needs a break
Your eyes burn — 
close them for a sec
See, that’s better
Sometimes you just gotta sit in your car
Time stops in the vortex of swirling napkins
and fast food ketchup packets
and gas station receipts
It may need a good vacuum
But, hell, so does your ugly ass house
At least in your car you can be as loud
or as quiet
or as gassy
or as sad
as you wanna be
And maybe it’s the only chance you’ll get all day
to write something good
So, baby — sometimes, just take a minute
and sit in your car, all right?

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Garbage Notes:

I wrote this one a few years ago when I was going back and forth a lot between jobs and I was finding it hard to find a moment’s rest.

It can be tough when you’re running around all day and your life is very busy—so busy you can’t even catch your breath. During this time period of my life I recall stopping for twenty to thirty minutes to just sit in my car, close my eyes, and block out the world for a brief period of time.

For whatever reason there wasn’t enough time to go home or take a nap in bed, so I’d park somewhere quiet and zone out for a bit, maybe with a cup of coffee or some snacks. Maybe I’d read a page or two of a book. Sometimes I’d pull out the notepad and jot down a few lines—maybe a poem would come out, maybe something else, maybe nothing at all.

You might say, well, why not go to the library or the mall or stop at Starbucks to get your mind off things—well the problem is, I’m the kind of person who doesn’t just need to kill time anywhere, I need to be away from stimulation. I needed to be away from people.

Sometimes what you really need in order to refresh yourself is to not feel the pressure to talk or interact with anybody for a set period of time. To not be the focus of anyone’s attention for a while can be crucial to regaining your composure.

When it comes down to it, there are different ways to take a break. Every person has their own needs. But for this poem and for this particular period of my life, I found myself often unwinding in my car in between commitments, doing nothing, catching a little me time. And for a while that was what got me through the day.

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Franco Amati 2023