We've all been in heavy patterns of traffic flow.
Some of us on the road are in it everyday though --
Statistically speaking that must increase those odds
And that's why I make a habit of taking it nice & slow.
376 East in Pittsburgh, Pa is gnarly any day of the week
On a late Friday afternoon of St. Patty's Day weekend
The back-up, stop & start traffic to the tunnel is a beast.
Through the tunnel headed to Monroeville it opens a bit
Those easily agitated arrogantly take off like a knee jerk
Reaction, key for survival. ..Not 100% you could be dead.
Traffic is now trucking around a modest 70 miles per hour
Suddenly the black SUV 30 yards ahead of me is at a stop.
I see why in the very left lane of three, we being in the middle
A huge bail of pink insulation bagged and duck-taped on its
Way to cause destruction and maybe even impending death
Behind me is an 18 wheeler big rig truck barreling on down ..
If I wasn't totally in the present moment I found in pre dawn
Keeping my hands on the wheel and my eyes upon the road
This 18 wheeler big rig truck would have nailed my rear end.
But a vehicle in that far left lane with the mobile death device,
Straight ahead of it, kept right on track and drove right on thru
And I darted too right at that point into that far left lane missing
The rolling big bailed bag of pink insulation now tracking another
I didn't look behind in the rear view mirror to see what happened
Rather, staying 100% focused in the moment knowing I'm blessed
I thought how glad I was I hugged my wife goodbye in the morning
How joyful it made me our 12 & half year old fur baby Lhasa Apso
Ran so so fast through the empty paved parking lot of St. Stephen's
All the way from Walnut to Broad streets in the Sewickley Village way
Before all the stay-at-home mothers dropped their kids off for school
Happy I loyally send my mother 2 flower arrangements each month +
How religiously I go to my father's grave each week to light a candle
And how I'm delivering Pittsburgh Poetry Therapy for my boss man
Who honored me with the challenge of engaging an underserved age;
The two sessions I did at two facilities the day before in my awareness
Feeling good knowing I broke on through to the groups recalling that
One poem I shared called "Thought of the Day (in Pittsburgh)" was so
Stimulating for the participants of one workshop they had me repeat it.
Five times I recited it for them with the same Christmas morning result.
That poem was written from my first session with a Monroeville facility
And that's where I was traveling to so I could present the printed poetry-
I wrote at home from the participation of this amazingly thinking group.
Excited to share before I would come back later in the month continuing
The Pittsburgh Poetry Therapy curriculum via my innovative employer ..
Adding to the strangeness when I did safely arrive, my person secured,
The staff at the facility informed me one of the folks in the workshop ..
Well he passed away. He was actually a poet. They said everyone was
Upset. really upset because everyone loved him and he touched many ..
Reciting poetry and also playing the organ so everybody could sing along.
"Ok," I said. "We'll dedicate these poems to him when I'm scheduled back"
I also thanked myself for getting ready to launch "Whispering Angels" 2016
My new e-book of poetry coming soon with top-hottest NewEdayMedia list
written March 12, 2016
by John Alan Conte, Jr.
copyright 2016 mystrawhat.com
& TheNewEverydayMedia.com
