Hoping to drop in from the sky like Mary Poppins, 
blue satin umbrella hooked between my fingers,
I was ready for takeoff, excited to show my friend
who lived across the street. 

                                        As I took off, the steel grill 
of a Nova smacked my head, struck my ear, plunged 
me and my umbrella into the sea of our driveway. 

   A capsule in the ocean,
   I couldn’t stand, couldn’t walk—
   Damaged nerves, they said.

At three, I didn’t know a car could do that—
steal all my hearing from my left ear, 
sink my chances of ever becoming an astronaut.