The poem sketches a woman whose life changes after she is "saved by a banjo." We never learn what she was saved from, and the poem leaves that open. What we see is the result: she becomes someone looser and louder. She laughs suddenly, glances in the rear-view mirror as if checking what she has left behind, and her big gestures take up more room than she expected. She even startles herself, joking that it's "unladylike."
Her choices keep pointing toward motion and freedom. She quits smoking and trains as a truck driver because she never wants to "slow down." Yet the ending is quiet. At rest stops on the high plains, she sits with the banjo in her lap and listens to the wind. The speaker seems to watch her with warmth and admiration, and the mood is lively but also calm. The title "Luck" suggests she sees her rescue as a gift, and the final image implies that the speed she wants includes moments of stillness.