Crossing the Rhinecliff
This is normal
A weekly routine
A fork in the road
The rightmost path my
Usual route
Somehow does not call me today
Turning the first corner
Is not as easy as I
Remember when the road is not
Covered with a
Maliciously fluffy, immaculately white
Menace
Approaching the shoulder
Seeing the high hill
Racing toward the ditch
This is surely how I die
As so many have
Experienced before
My entire life
Plays through
My head
Like an accelerated slide show
Having never felt so
Helpless
So little in control of
My life
Forgetting all of those
Rules those
Little tricks
To stop sliding
Hoping
This will be the exception
To no avail
Happening so fast
Almost unbelievably so
A loud crunch
Invaded my ears
And the realization
Hits
I’m wrapped around a tree
The worst sound I’ve ever known
The droning wail of a broken machine
A failing motor
Amplified through the air
Taking over what
Should have been
The calm of falling snow
The worst smell I’ve known
Previously unknown
For I can compare it to
Nothing
Fills the interior
Not able to handle this I race
Out of the car
To save my mind and
My life
A compassionate stranger
Accompanies me
Watches over me
As we watch from
Afar
My little blue car turn
Black
Engulfed by flames
And as the popping of
Explosions begin
I realize just how
Lucky I am
This article appears in June 2012.
