The Joel Train

City Driving


I wrote this poem driving down Merrimon.
I put the pen in my mouth
While I merged onto 240.
Or, I tried to
But a man in a cheap, red, mercury convertible
Cut me off.

As he passed I saw two little girls
One on top of the other,
Crammed into the passenger seat,
No seatbelt, no car seat.

Spitting out the pen,
Pressing my thumb against my notebook,
Steering with the friction
I managed to keep from killing anyone.

There should be a law against people who drive like that.