Rubberneck
I’m handling the back-to-school traffic
Better than the guy
Who had to pull his Mercedes Benz
Onto the shoulder
And stand next to it
With his blazered back facing all of us,
Like a pissy child
Who doesn’t want to play this game anymore,
Who’s had enough of dumb traffic.
I’m going to ignore it until it goes away,
He must be thinking, as he stares into the bushes,
Remembering the clear parkways of summer.
But as I pass him, the traffic lets up,
As if he was the cause of the holdup:
Commuters slowing down to ponder
He who scorns traffic,
He who shuns traffic,
He who is
In denial,
In reverie, and
In my rearview mirror,
Mid-pee.
Best of the Net nominee Rich Glinnen has had his poetry featured on Rich Vos and Bonnie McFarlane’s podcast My Wife Hates Me, and is a mainstay at the Nuyorican Poets Café. His work can be read in various print and online journals, as well as on his Tumblr and Instagram pages. He currently has two cats, two kids, and one wife.