Tempered Magazine December 2013 // January 2014 // Issue 01 | Page 51

NISSAN, WY
By Nick Mangigian

Laramie, Wyoming is a Nissan XTerra town
And I’m just living in it. My block alone has
Five of the damn things. Where, I ask,
Are the midsized SUVS with names that
Start with vowels, as they should,
Instead of obscure consonants—
Plucked from the alphabet’s fucking backwater.
In my town, Escapes, Envoys, Explorers
Change lanes three at a time,
Like an aggressive kid bounding stairs,
Only occasionally crashing.
The Eastern Time Zone mentality
Self-actualized on the
Half-empty roadways
in a hollowed-out city,
Worlds away from
these mountains,
This sky, this
Nissan... Frontier.

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