Numbers Game
in the jumble
rumble
slide & acceleration
of the LA numbers game—
710, 110, 405, 105—
you get bored. Look around.
Not at the scenery, but at
the cars that cut you off,
trucks that vie for space,
motorcycles with restraint.
Drivers. I swear I saw a man
who was asleep.
Eyes closed but still bumper
to bumpering.
My favorite today was the Audi
merging without turn signal
or room for the car.
I HEART Hamster bumper sticker.
A little wave, big ring, when I let her in.
Who has a hamster?
Aren’t they just a plump rat?
Not domesticated like a guinea pig.
Hamster.
Later, slowed to a creepy crawl,
somebody’s radio playing
Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark”
which might be about unrequited
love or masturbation or both.
Air brake semis won’t share.
The concrete mixer goes round
and round like it ain’t ever gonna stop.
Tuesday. It might be Tuesday.
Planes pass overhead instead of clouds.
This traffic is a reason for birth control,
an alternate dimension of time
and space and nowhere to go.
I might just close my eyes
too.