McNair’s Tire Shop
BY Travis Truax
Duncan, OK
Someone should write a poem about
the McNair’s Tire and Brake shop south of town
where crotchety old men
with grease-slick grins
talk about Super Bowls or softball
or the last good woman they had.
Cracked hands, worn by years of labor
crank tough jacks up at dawn, flick cigarettes
all morning, and wave at strangers.
You can sometimes forgive a place
for its filth and leer and dirty jokes—
but you don’t always celebrate it.
Maybe James Dickey could. Maybe
Mr. Stafford.
Maybe some places hide,
waiting for a quick window
or passing truck. Or an afternoon so wide
poets from all across Oklahoma come
looking for its source.
Travis earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 2010. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in
Flyover Country, Quarterly West, The Marathon Literary Review, The Flagler
Review, and The Eastern Iowa Review. After college he spent several years
working in various national parks out west. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.