by Laura LeHew
If the cost of gasoline is $4.59 a gallon and Sergio special orders a Rosso 2008 Maserati GranTurismo with a 4,200 cc 4.2 liter V 8 front engine with double overhead cam, variable valve timing/camshaft with four valves per cylinder that uses premium unleaded fuel and his wife, Julie, herniates her disk at L5 so that she can no longer bend into Sergio’s mid-life crisis and the cost of postage is due to increase based on the rate of inflation but neither Sergio nor Julie have gotten cost of living raises, and they have 9 maxed out credit cards for which they can barely slap together and then mail their 9 minimum monthly payments and they purchase the Maserati by taking a 2nd out on their home on which they are about to default but they are not worried because their life is patterned upon the current government’s spending model by which the government is trillions of $s in debt and bails itself out by printing more money thereby lowering the value of said $ should Sergio have gotten the 20” BirdCage Grigio Mercury wheels and the Rosso calipers?
An award winning poet, Laura LeHew's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in such journals and anthologies as Alehouse Press, Big Pulp, Her Mark Calendar, J Journal, Pank, PMS, and Untamed Ink. Her chapbook Beauty is forthcoming (05/09) from Altered Crow Press. Additionally, she interned for CALYX Journal, and won a writing residency from Soapstone. Her MFA is from the California College of Arts.
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