Yellow lights like cat’s eyes

 

The traffic lights blink yellow

like cat’s eyes as I drive

through the dark tonight

the glow stretching over

hot pavement as my car tires

finds bits of gravel to pop

people clutch cold drinks

as they sit on porches and stoops

like old fashioned southern families

before ipods, ipads, TVs even radios

choosing to exist in the sweltering heat

rather than living their lives

in air conditioned prisons

This concept of freedom a surprise to me

as I live mine in this moving box

with the AC cranked so high

I can’t hear my own thoughts for the fan

the cat’s eyes of blinking lights

blinding me as a drive

making me see less for their brightness

sometimes I am just deaf, dumb and blind

to all that is important

traveling through worlds I barely recognize

passing people living freer than I ever could

wondering how it is they got where they are

and how I can possibly get there