Just Back!

One of my daughters and I returned to Austin yesterday from a week-long road trip to Colorado. We had a great time. The experience was a little less grueling than usual for me because my daughter has her learner's permit and helped me with some of the driving. I say "less grueling." It was physically less of a strain, but riding with a novice driver traveling at 70 m.p.h. can involve certain psychological stresses. Without further ado, then, another of the cautionary poems I've been posting on these pages, this one about, well...

CARS

Compelled by a sudden collision
to speak with an oncoming Buick’s transmission,

run over, crushed, or trapped inside,
locked in when the temperature starts to rise,

more kids are killed each year by cars
than soldiers die in foreign wars.

You can talk about tanks or missile barrages.
The bigger threat lurks nearby, in garages:

A ton and a half of oil and steel,
not aimed by the barrel but steered by a wheel

and soon you’ll get your license to drive it!
Let’s all say a prayer. Perhaps you’ll survive it.

Danger Rating: Extremely High

Survival Tips:

• Buckle up
• Don’t ride with idiots
• Take the bus