Every Day Poems posted this photograph as a prompt on their facebook page.
Blindsided
by Joel E. Jacobson
It’s when I’m already running late
that I hit every light red,
that I get stuck behind
the only guy in the state
whose 10-under-the-speed-limit-
bumper-sticker message to me
is that I need to celebrate world peas,
Darwin fish eats Jesus fish,
I should wish for coexistence–
by the way
that irony
is not funny
to me
today–
My one, true desire
is for you to get a flat tire,
pull over, and suffer
for your rush-hour sins
of being a hindrance.
Full of haste, I jerk the wheel
to fly around the hippy imbecile
when I hear the honk and squeal
and swerve back into my place in line.
My heart pounds like my mind did
moments before being blindsided
by the slap of flapping wings
in the face of judgement.
A Poetic Matter 
I like this a lot, Joel. The syncopation is wonderful, the rising rhythmic tension, resolving into the longer breaths of the last thoughtful stanza. Music and thought as one. Bravo!
Thanks, Joe! I’m reading Christian Wiman’s Every Riven Thing, and I’m really enjoying the musicality of his poetry. I thought I would give it a try. As always, I appreciate your comments. 🙂