Get Out of the Goddamn Car,
Benjam铆n Naka-Hasebe Kingsley
says my father聽 聽 聽 聽and I鈥檓 leaping
out onto the highway pavement聽 聽 聽 聽the road
is not a spilled ribbon聽 聽 聽 聽of bow-tied asphalt not
the powdered rib聽 聽 聽 聽cage of likely-beaten
boys it is just聽 聽 聽 聽fucking
concrete.聽 聽 聽 聽I ragdoll
through God鈥檚聽 聽 聽 聽unpaved
underbelly聽 聽 聽 聽His surfacing pebble-pocked lesions
curl my hands聽 聽 聽 聽against a guardian angel
who never聽 聽 聽 聽Never came alive for me
in faith I stretch聽 聽 聽 聽myself long across traffic
lane after unending lane聽 聽 聽 聽as if
there is a mother鈥檚 minivan聽 聽 聽 聽who will take me
far from the floodgates聽 聽 聽 聽of heaven
buoy me to safety聽 聽 聽 聽restart my world with a rainbow
like Noah鈥檚 magic boat never聽 聽 聽 聽dreamt it could.
Parent and child鈥攎uch like the relationship between driver and passenger鈥攜ou are along for the ride. This poem leapt from my desire to express the violent yearning for agency crammed backseat in so many children鈥檚 lives.聽
Ben Kingsley is best known for his Academy Award-winning role as Mahatma聽Gandhi. A touch less famous, Affrilachian author Benjam脤n Naka-Hasebe聽Kingsley has not acted since his third-grade debut as the undertaker in 惭耻蝉颈肠听惭补苍. A Kundiman alum, Kingsley is currently the Tickner Writing Fellow and聽recipient of a Provincetown FAWC fellowship. He belongs to the Onondaga聽Nation of Indigenous Americans in New York. Peep his work from 2018 in聽Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, New England Review, and Tin House, among聽others. His first book, Not Your Mama鈥檚 Melting Pot, selected by Bob Hicok for the聽Backwaters Prize, was released fall 2018.