by Jeremy Nathan Marks
 |
| Trump indicated consumers could avoid tariffs by buying vehicles built entirely in the U.S., but industry experts say there’s not a single one with all-domestic parts and assembly. —NBC News, April 1, 2025 |
It’s a game called telephone.
I say fuel pump
and you say pump assembly
to the next guy who utters
maquiladora
before his partner says
Juarez City
Juarez City sends me
an assembly pump and I say
Que? No entiendo.
then I call you about a fuel
filter and you get on the horn
to your buddy in Alabama
who hears Pressure Regulator
calling up Jane in Windsor,
Ontario who phones Carlota in Sonora
Hola? Hola. ¿Cómo está usted?
Carlota replies
regulador de presión
Jane murmurs
momento
and picks up from Gilles
in Trois-Rivières
Ouais. Unité d’envoi de carburant?
Ouais, says Gilles.
D’accord, Gilles Jane replies
before flipping a linguistic switch
in her mind, telling
Carlota
Gracias, mi amiga
so that by the time she gets home
and her junior kindergartener
asks how your day was mom
she thinks he says carburetor
which is what I said to my partner
when she asked me what’s for dinner.
Jeremy Nathan Marks lives in the auto-producing region of Canada. His latest book is Captain's Kismet (Alien Buddha Press, 2025).
