POEM - Possum Magic

There are several ways to explain

Many stories that are tied

To a simple word

Possum

Picture a car full of kids

For clarity, five children

Two adults and luggage

In a Pinto station wagon

Driving down the coast

From Portland to SoCal

Well into day two

Of a journey best left to airplanes

In the middle of a summer swelter

Nothing to cool but the old 6/60 method

Or if luck had chanced by

A cool cup of water with ice

Or the shade of a sibling

None of these permanent or cooling

Just a state of less hot

Tempers rise in such conditions

Eruptions fester and burst

With slightest provocation

A bead of sweat

An awkward glance

And the screaming doth commence

It is at such times magic is invoked

As the mystical incantation is spoke

1-2-3 . . . POSSUM!

With abrupt wonder

All the raging cacophony stops

The screams and fists rest

The spines of all snap straight

Lips button shut

And eyes and ears lock into surveillance mode

As one and all join in the game

A game that should not work

But somehow it does

Somehow everyone plays along

At least for a moment

At least long enough to calm down

And let the possum work its magic