Taking A Toll

Birds do not sing in caves, nor do doves cherish their innocence in dovecots. - Thoreau

traveling down a hiatal highway

broken, dotted lines kibbitzing

radio drifting in and out of static

both heart and gas tank near empty with pockets of lint

flashing light warning with a sarcastic glint

'slow, toll ahead'

thinking i'm clever, i change lanes instead

seat next to me is empty and i'm lonely

in a grim reminder

i pull up to the booth and the collector informs me, 'exact change only'

Author's Note

"Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them." - Thoreau

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

toll booths don't have any empathy...
we pay and pay....heart drained dry of funds...
not even quarters for the toll left...
we can change lanes all we want...but just like Oedipus, everything
we do to avoid fate will cause us in the end to run right into it.
I like this piece, Pete...
It makes me see things.

[Pete]

got the idea and went with it. toll booths make us stop and think. we're barreling along and then suddenly - bam, we're forced to stop and take stock. a lot of self-evaluation and thinking takes place at them. a real reality check as you mention ... :)

[andrew mitchell]

This reminded me of that great movie with Michael Douglas having a melt down in his car called Falling down. Yes we all have to pause for awhile to recollect and maybe reconnect. NIce writing Pete.

[Pete]

driving is not for the faint of heart anymore. i can't believe how much it has changed since i started as a teenager - it was bad enough then, now it's unbearable. way too many cars on the road - everyone in a hurry to go nowhere. we do a lot of thinking in our cars. we all need to slow down and reconnect as you say ... :)

[barleygirl]

The logistics of changing lanes at a toll booth is lost on some west-coasters, since we have no toll roads & only a few toll bridges. It's a bit foggy how changing lanes is related to that empty seat -- maybe a carpool lane requirement for some lanes? Not following this precisely, but your message quickly sends us to a whole different kind of toll booth, the kind we can't avoid as we blast down the highway of life. "hiatal highway" and "kibbitzing" are provocative words for a powerful opening (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Pete]

hmm, didn't know that, we've got lots of tolls in mass. there are stories of people putting dummies in their cars to try and sneak through the carpool lane. the changing lanes is literally thinking that we can somehow avoid the toll or jockey for better position and figuratively thinking that we can do the same in our lives - changing something to avoid the inevitable, we try even though we know that it is futile. feeling lonely sucks no matter how you look at it ... :)

[barleygirl]

The golden gate bridge is the only toll situation I was in regularly, as my mom lived up in Marin County for the last 11 years of her life. Now that you remind me, I do remember how one might try to strategize as to which lane to take in order to negotiate the multi-lane pile-up on the other side when all these lanes come back together right where I needed to turn off.

[Pete]

as a child on car trips with my brother and me in the back and my parents in the front, my mother would go into a panic when we were coming up on a toll and she would tell me father go here, go there, slow down, speed up, go in this lane, change to that lane. then she would start fishing through her wallet. it was hilarious, she was wound so tightly ... :)

[barleygirl]

LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ruth]

Not only do I hear this speak ( the poem is that strong), I also felt that final punch...you got the feeling described here as it felt like it was happening while reading...excellent Pete!

[Pete]

forcing us to slow down and take stock. one of life's moments where you just want to scream and let it all out. a reality smack as you point out. we've all been there and so telling i think ... :)

[Chris Shaw]

Really like the title Pete. When I read your poem, the content a reminder that existence isn't all a barrell of laughs, your final line said it all. A lesson from sod's law. When you think there isn't anything else which can take you down another step, you are wrong. There's always something else, and it's usually something quite niggling that will do it. Don't those tolls annoy, especially if you have to wait or not have the exact money. Take care.

Chris

[Pete]

you're right chris, could be even worse in the breakdown lane. we must remain thankful for even the little things which really aren't so little after all. there are always silver linings and things are what we make of them ... :)