Patricia Asuncion’s most recent poem to appear here was “On the Other Line” (April 2020).

Tollway 
By Patricia Asuncion

Novice vehicles are born
this way, trapped
on one-way streets,
nowhere to make U-turns.

Always some cop’s around
to bust a break-out driver.
Rules override justice.
Insensitive traffic lights

ignore peak times.
Cars are forced into tight
lanes both ways,
circling in a mad circus.

Exits are blocked
by the traffic master
who requires sensible order.
Often one opinionated

trucker pushes the limits
of posted signs. Without
much effort, an opportunist
in his tailwind, jockeys to get

ahead. Get-up-and-go
grows contagious and more
autos pull around rules
for better position in the race

against the clock. From different
direction and distance,
drivers look for a finish line,
a prize for striving.

But, time always crosses
first, always wins.
We all end dead, up-ended
in a dead-end ditch.