Bad Driver
/although i live for novelty/and adventure/that aspect of myself is a minuscule portion of my day-to-day life/shamefully i am a creature of habit/relegated to the postage stamp of my comfort zone/carrying most of my belongings in a hatchback/make: toyota/model: hermit crab/i drive the same routes every day/avoiding the freeway when i can/cautious to a fault on the road/be more aggressive/i’ve learned, but only to a point/i find it difficult to put empathy aside/i’m always letting too many cars into the lane/i prefer a distant parking spot to the jostle of prime real estate/think about how many people converge on the same road at the same time going in the same direction/ shouldn’t that breed a sense of commonality?/i’ve always felt camaraderie with my fellow drivers/i want to believe we’re good/as a species/but the freeway challenges that/most people think of driving as a competitive sport/the other drivers are the enemy/the other drivers are idiots/the other drivers are in.my.way. /but haven’t you been the other driver?/haven’t you merged without looking/or ran a red light/cut someone off by accident/or on purpose/you are the pedestrian shaking your fist at the car/you are the car bellowing drivel at the pedestrian/absolve yourself instantly in the air-conditioning of your singular pod/a crescendo-ous symphony envelopes the machine/i’m bopping my head and percussing the wheel/i’m screaming my joy in a padded cell/i’m a blurry line of yellow dots/i’m slowing down to let you in/Calla Blawusch is a writer, a lifelong lover of words, but a novice in the world of poetry. You can find her exploring the outdoors or curled up with a cup of tea, depending on the day. San Diego native, Tucson aficionado, with aspirations to move to the pacific northwest.
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