just rotated my tires

The stage was set
it was HOT 104.1 degrees
No shade. you better believe
the equipment -
tire iron, jack, and nuts to spare
- was red hot and hard,
when I pulled it out.
hard enough to bruise and
hot enough to burn
hands too eager.

Right out
in the open. Right
under that hot sun -
no shade. As I said,
right out in public
you better believe
it was far from easy
but oh, I made it look
easy and sweet!

whipping around, mind calm,
body frantic to go
loosening up the lugs
working that iron around
and around, jimmy-jacking up
the chassis, getting those nuts off
like a precision routine

but spontaneous and easy,
as I said. Easy like a roll downhill
through sweet, high grass.
Routine, like a summer day
all the way down hill - that's
the way I made it look

yet vigorous and bustling
with easy vigor and roiling motions,
stripped to the waist, not wasting time
or money - if motion were money, my muscles
made a lean, smooth economy as I kept
switching positions

first cranking away up front,
then rolling back around to the rear,
sliding my jack out, back in
and under again
and cranking away. I made
that back end dance!
Aw, yeah.

like a precision routine
made up of seeming-spontaneous moves
Right out in the open

and by the time
I pulled that thing out
from under the backside, and slid it
in up under, in front again
to start cranking away for that final,
blessed stretch - you bet things had
gotten (you better believe things had
gotten) sweaty. By that point
- in that heat? Aw,
my mind had checked out of the brain,
and was possessed
by my body.

I was "in the zone" - moving
rangily, hands slipping, working that iron around
in circles.
Grinning like a dog!
Mouth slightly open, breathing
through mouth and nose and all pores

I bet my tongue lolled out

I don't even know, now. All self-consciousness lost
in a long, sweet moment of sweat, torque and torsion.
But that's cool. Dignity
goes right out the window in these situations

too much about action - one becomes "all natural."

I certainly don't mind getting right down to it!
the action -
hoisting,
cranking,
loosening up and then tightening on down - right out in public!
Hair spiking with drops of sweat, grinning like a fool
for anyone who happened by. I don't care

I kind of get a charge off that. And you better believe
that breeze felt good

I did a solid job and loved it. It was hard, sure,
hard work and I was spent and winded by the finish
just from the pace I set!
but I finished strong. When I do a job it is done
thorough and well.

I finished really quick, too!

From the moment I first really
got the nuts loosened up,
all the way to that last languid spin -
as we return to the ground, the pressure
settles back into the joints and sockets

as everything relaxes

and I pull that slack jack out from under,
slide it back in its bag -

it was only 37 minutes. Well

for me that's quick.