Typewriter Rodeo: Never-Ending Congestion On I-35

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

By Kari Anne RoySeptember 22, 2017 1:33 pm,

In Austin, and anywhere else there are highways, commuters know the distress of crowded lanes and bad drivers. But when your highway is also under construction, frustration can reach a whole different level.

Never-ending Construction on I-35

oh hello, orange cones

my old friends

hello newly painted

yet crooked stripes

marking brand new baby-sized lanes

hello neighbor car

one inch from my bumper

hello new day

on I35.

     Funny we should meet here

in this ground hog day

of torment

     every moment a repeat

     of yesterday’s moment

  and the day before’s

and the day before’s

perhaps we can enjoy

this standstill

  perhaps we can bond

    over bonds

   that might one day

   (in a thousand years)

   provide fresh and useful

roadways

or maybe we can just memorize

the streaks of grime

  on every orange cone

and just come to terms

  that this spot

  right here

in this lane

    on this road

is our

new home

Produced by Laura Rice and Leah Scarpelli.