Typewriter Rodeo: Tappin’ on the Brakes

Each week, the Standard reaches out to Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo for a custom poem on Texas topics.

By David FruchterJune 24, 2016 9:30 am,

What do Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio all have in common? Traffic. That inspired Typewriter Rodeo’s David Fruchter to write this week’s poem.

Tappin’ on the Brakes

got a sweet lik’ somethin’

on the far side of town

so i hope in my jalopy

and i take the long way around

hope to beat the traffic

through circuitous routation

but the long line of brake likes

is like a auto conflagration

and i’m tappin’ on the brakes
tryin’ to get to my sweet thing
i’m tappin’ on the brakes
’till i make ’em squeal and sing

tappin’ on the brakes
and the slowness makes me itch
tappin’ on the brakes
while i sit, complain and…complain some more

i know she’s waiting for me
on the far side of my ride
while i stop & go & stop & go
and the pressure builds inside
and no one lets me merge
or signals to change lanes
i swear this city traffic
pure liquifies my brains

and i’m…(chorus)

Produced by Laura Rice.