“Stay off your cell phone while driving as it deserves the least of your attention.”
The Witness
7.6.2015
A blackbird perches on a tall reed of grass
The tallest at the edge of the highway
It squawks in protest at the cars flying past
Pay attention and you may just make another day
They either never heard
Or maybe
Just can’t understand bird
But all he got in response
A tail-feather fluff
From their tailwind draft
And once
A wave from a girl
On her cell as she laughed
While she sped her car past
She didn’t laugh long
The car took a turn
Where a turn did not belong
The bird’s, the only eyes to witness
The laughing girl’s swan song
As laughter turned to screaming
And all right had turned to wrong
Its bird-head shook in sadness
It wished it had been wrong
But all the bird could do
Was bird-like things
To you or to me
Its pleas
The melancholy song it sings
So the accident’s only witness
Did just that
It plucked an under-feather loosed
Ruffled the rest
Then flew away to a safer post
And when the sheriff arrived
Found the driver had died
She looked for evidence and witnesses
As evidence upon the dash
She found the cellphone
Found it smashed
But found no evidence of witnesses
Just heard a lonely distant squawk
And wished the lonely bird could talk
As it may well have been
The only witness at the scene
The sheriff shook her head in sadness
The sheriff wished she had been wrong
Screech Bam
6.13.2009
“Yeah, I heard what he said to her
He’s such an ass,
Doesn’t even care.”
“Hold on while I switch sides.”
“OK, did you hear abut the party tonight?”
“Sounds wild, will you need a ride?”
“Before we go, we’ll grab a bite.”
“It’s supposed to cool tonight,
Watch it’s a hundred degrees
And I’ll be sweatin’ in my new top
And Caribbean blue capris.”
“Do you think he’ll be there tonight?”
“I saw him at the last party,
But with you-know-who in his line of sight,
Blocking his view, I know he never saw me.”
If you were only looking
At what should have been
Your line of sight
A car, whose light was green
Not yours, you ran the light
Screech, bam, the last sounds
The green-light driver heard alive
His name was Mike, and if still around
You could ask him the priority, talk or drive
Since you cannot ask Mike, ask yourself
Now not on a cell, but within one
Which was more important
Your mind on the call
Or your eyes on the road
If you could redo it all
This time you’d get off the cell
Get off the cell and drive
I’m sure Mike would agree
If he were only still alive