Traffic Jam and Jelly

Traffic Jam and Jelly

(“But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” Matthew 5:39)

He left work late, rushed out the gate,
hurried to the next appointment on his calendar.
The road was slick, he changed lanes quick,
slid across the pavement into another traveler.
Neither one understood.

Traffic was slowed to a standstill from Portland past
Vancouver,
people anxious for happy hour,
families returning from the doctor,
a couple missing a dinner reservation,
the traffic helicopter captured it all for those
streaming the news on the local station.

Blood boiled, traffic stopped, an hour between exits.
People used their horns instead of brakes,
others babysat the bumper of every car in front of them.
A delivery truck overheated with a wedding cake for cargo.

Closer than sitting in a lounge together,
names were called through rolled down windows.
No one knew the occupants beside them,
and invented invectives for idiots in front,
fools behind, and assholes trying to change lanes.

No one saw the car door open, no one heard the warning buzz,
but soon sandwiches were offered at the window like
a 50s diner with roller skates. Then from the driver’s side
donuts from a pink box appeared in the hands of a newly
licensed driver
who had not been trained in the dangerous etiquette
of rage on the road.

She only served, naively it seems, buttercream resistance
to the hard slap and mocking laughs of the trigger happy
navigators,

And it showed.