《Minivans》

Born it was, in the Reagan years, a transport innovation;

The sluggish box most popular

‘Mid the housewives of the nation.

*

Waiting in ranks for our regiments –

Like parrots or swarming monkeys –

As we fled scholastic prisonment.

*

Laden with bags and boxes, canoe on rooftop tossed,

Upon some holiday voyage –

Delights, in later ages lost.

*

A taxi for the hockey team

And sticks and skates and grub to nosh;

What, to the driver, did all those errands seem?

*

A steed safe and sturdy, but without pretense;

Choice carriage of suburban moms

Zealous, fretful, yet full of sense.

*

How silly now seem the petty fears

That wracked our minds in yonder years;

An era’s symbols: quite mundane,

And yet we’d wish them all come back again.