The whir of a Tesla, peeling out
well, trying to, anyway
the torque
is too finely balanced
to hear tread slipping
tire squeal
compensated for
four times over
auto-corrected
and eliminated from the equation

so, instead
his frustration finds
a perceived inconvenience
pedaled, down
translated, by five digits
into acceleration
climbing linear ramps, speeding
onward
to the next destination
green lights, on the verge of blinking
starting lines, infinitely
just meters away

behind the line
there's no exhaust, steaming
he still feels the need
to release
all that pressure
from being honked at, earlier
by the parents
at the primary school
drop-off line, this morning
where he had stopped, to unload trash
carefully wrapped
transported in the front bucket-seat, strapped
then, escorted cross-lane
to be left in communal bin

the battery in his chassis
fully-charged and bleeding
tonight
it will be emptied, and replenished again
repeated
until its depleted, dropped off
and disposed of
in the bin

Back of the Page

I wrote this after an experience riding my bike this morning, my daughter following me on the way school. There was a man in a Tesla who had blocked traffic by stopping in the lane. As we approached, I saw him reaching to unbuckle a trash bag from his front-seat. He got out, crossed traffic to the other side of the street, and disposed of it in the communal trash bin - all while about 15 cars and many bikes waited in a line behind him, honking and trying to maneuver safely around the parked car.

We found our way through, and as we were riding, the Tesla passed us on our bikes at full acceleration. As he took the corner at high speed, I heard the slightest of tire screech, and then, an auto-correction into silence - he had found a straight-away and put the pedal to the floor. As he disappeared into the distance, all we could hear was the whir of electricity, and displaced wind.

This is the sound of perceived inconvenience, I thought…and came home to write this poem.

Blocking traffic at school drop-off is nothing new, but there was something about him doing it to drop-off trash (no kid in sight), then proceed to accelerate off at full speed in an electric car, that struck me as cosmically ironic. I can’t explain it, but I pictured the massive battery in the car going in the bin, one day (sadly). After all the frustration and rage has been transmuted by the pedal, and converted into forward motion by the transmission. Where is he going so fast? I hope he, and the trash nestled in his front seat, arrive safely.

Take it easy, Speed Racers.

🏎️