![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Snell on October 23, 2013, at 20:48:14
its as if you were in an endless (and beginning-less) traffic jam. The road is cramped and narrow; there are tanker trucks slowly pouring black smoke into your cars vents, you cant hear your radio or car stereo because of the low RPM rumbling of cars and trucks and semis all around you; any act of kindness you commit, such as leaving space for some dented, banged-up machinething trying to merge, is immediately ruined by someone else, scampering into the space you had left, foreclosing the chance you had of feeling you were being kind? noble? anyway, no; you are both starving and nauseated at the same time, and your stomach hurts from both; there are no exits where you can get off escape this, even temporarily, even shabbily; there are just jersey barriers and grey vehicles covered with grime, its drizzling now, and your windshield wipers dont really work, they scratch and smear the grime across your windshield with a piercing, repetitive shriek, and when you try to look to your left or your right to see something besides damp, gritty, gray, fumy highway, the most you can see are the oblique outlines of institutions that could be factories covered in graffiti and litter and ragged advertisements for products not even sold any more, but you do realize that the space between you and the car in front of you seems a little greater, now, how, and you look in your rearview mirror and see that the car behind you is no longer looming, but instead is a way back, is not filling the view of the mirror, and as you cautiously press down on the accelerator, glancing to the left and right, afraid of what you might see, the cars move faster and are now farther apart; you press the WASH button and youre going fast enough that the blue fluid sprays delightfully across the windshield, and the wiper blades automatically activate and clear it all, smooth and clean and fast, and is that sun? you now see greater distances, you see before you a world full of light and shadow, the sedan purring smoothly at the right speed. Things flash delightfully by, the car thrums, you can feel, in the center of you, that moving-forward feeling of progress, progress, progress. How could it be that just moments ago you were in a trench of grime and shuffling? Those trucks that were so sinister are now shinybright and obligingly staying to the right, their engines working better too, the sun glinting off their carefully custom-machined grilles; there are some curves and dips in the road that you follow with precision; there are grass and trees and the possibility of exits; even the paint on the road is whiter, and the road itself is blacker, and as you fly along you remember why you took this trip in the first place.That's what it's like :` )
Copyright (c) 2013 by Snell. License is granted to Dr. Bob and other posters in accordance with the guidelines for copyright posts as described here: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faq.html#copyright
Posted by Partlycloudy on October 23, 2013, at 21:59:10
In reply to what it's like (prose poem by Snell), posted by Snell on October 23, 2013, at 20:48:14
Thank you! Imagine that trip when the windshield reservoir has emptied itself.
That - to me - is depression. Driving along, thinking, I only have to bring this switch closer to me, and the cleaner will squirt up. Then you're left with the road grime ground into the window by the wipers.
Good fun.Thank you for posting. In a better world, yes, this would happen.
Posted by Phil on October 24, 2013, at 8:26:33
In reply to what it's like (prose poem by Snell), posted by Snell on October 23, 2013, at 20:48:14
Great, Snell. I loved it. Ain't it fun to write?
Posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2013, at 15:46:58
In reply to what it's like (prose poem by Snell), posted by Snell on October 23, 2013, at 20:48:14
I found myself immersed in the atmosphere. Even though I don't drive. I could follow the feelings. I enjoyed it a lot.
Posted by Snell on October 28, 2013, at 16:45:13
In reply to Re: what it's like (prose poem by Snell) » Snell, posted by alexandra_k on October 25, 2013, at 15:46:58
Thank you! One writer I know says the transition from being in the traffic jam to being out of the traffic jam happens too fast, and I think she's right. "Kill your darlings," they say :-)
The praise feels good, so thank you.
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Social | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.