A racecar is not a riot
rushing shops on 4th and Main,
rolls in ovals to lengths
measured in flag waves—
rods, pistons, engines go,
bare hands, gloved hands,
mechanical shutter arms
in charge. A racecar is not
a symbolic blast bursting
barriers of sound and ash
after collided crossed
signals in paddles stuck
in fixed positions offering
incorrect information.
The storms are not coming.
The storms are here. Slick
roads fogged shields mud
grass now a hazard.
A racecar is not a pace car.
Everything moves too quickly.
***
Christina M. Rau is the author of What We Do To Make Us Whole, the Elgin Award-winning Liberating The Astronauts, and two poetry chapbooks. She serves as Poet in Residence for both Cedarmere and the Oceanside Library (NY) and was 2020 Walt Whitman Birthplace Poet of the Year. Her poetry airs on Destinies radio show (WUSB) and appears in various literary journals. When she’s not writing, she’s teaching yoga or watching the Game Show Network. www.christinamrau.com
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