he was the best
driver
I knew

drove better than some
people walked

he was so sure of
himself behind the wheel
you'd think he could pass
the damn truck through the eye
of a needle

And I sat on the passenger
seat and
just listened to his stories

man, he had a
lot of 'em

and most were about his
wife
who was 19 years younger
than him

He used to tell me that she's
complexed by the fact that one
of her breasts is significantly
larger than the other

that she drinks
too many energy drinks

can't have sex without
background music

never learned how to
drive

had an abortion at 17
but is pro life now

cooks eggs
in the air fryer

wants a pet dog one day
and changes her mind
the next day

can pee standing up

and many, many other things

I didn't learn so many
intimate things about my
own girlfriend

and the way he'd talk about
his woman
made you feel like you
were the one
living with her

he'd talk about it so much
and with such openness
that at the end
of the shift you'd
think you don't even need a
woman in your own life anymore
You're good with
hearing so much about his

So it's no wonder
that I miss working with the guy
so much

I really meant it when I said
he was the best driver
in the world

He didn't just drive better than
other people walked
but he drove better drunk
than most people sober

And that's the thing with him

He drove drunk a lot

If everyone was as good
at drunk driving
it would've been legal

But nope,
we do not live in an ideal world

The law didn't care that
he never made a mistake while
driving like that

So he was left without his
license
and that left him without the job
and it was over

he wasn't much good
at anything else

and what's even worse
He got put into prison

The man just wouldn't
give up driving
drunk
and with no license

they caught him once
twice
and I guess the third time
they had to stop him for
good

Well,
they did

and I head he doesn't have it
good behind the
bars

"He got a big tattoo of
that woman of his
all across his back," said the guy
who replaced him and now
drove his truck, "An' problem is
she a pretty one.
You know why that's a problem
when you're going
to prison?"

"I can imagine," I said

"Yeah, better just imagine it
and leave it at that..."

Poor guy
his problem was that
he lived too happily in a sad, angry
world
and the world sought to
do away with him

It appears that the world
has won this
battle

but after all that time
spent with him
in the truck
I know him too well

The world might have won the
fight
but not the war

not with this
guy 

Many thanks to LatinosUSA —English edition for featuring my poem, "the best driver I knew"!

Check it out HERE!

Thank you!