---

Traffic report poem by Charles Bukowski

Traffic report

here in Los Angeles
on the freeways
it's like the Wild West
again.
many of the drivers carry guns
and if you cut them off
or irritate them in any manner
with your driving,
they simply pull up, point their
guns and begin
firing.
life has gotten to be too much
for many of us out
here,
the razor's edge is always
up
and any slight, slight as it might
be
becomes the ultimate and final
challenge.
many wait for it, many even hope
for it.
but out of it all, something else
has emerged:
far more polite driving habits.
who the hell wants to catch a
.32 caliber bullet in order to gain
3 car lengths in
heavy traffic?
me?
I'm so polite I'd make a nun
puke.
I prefer to die by my own
hand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Betting on the Muse - Poems and Stories
Black Sparrow Press, 1996.