Bike Meets Car

It’s a lovely day
no wind in my face
riding along, feeling free
pushing up hill on my way
to where I wanna to go
almost there, ya know

oh, that car’s pushed into my lane
guess I’ll have to change my way
you can’t go through a car

what
           the
                   fuck!?!?

Up and over the bonnet
      onto the road
scrambling to the footpath
my bike is a sorry mess
and what’s that hole in my leg?

They say you can’t avoid them
and finally I’ve met one
the driver who thinks bikes are apparitions
demons who take up the road
with their spindly wheels
and tinny little bells

what did I think I was doing
riding on the road
not squashed into the gutter
lest I be hit by a car?
How dare I think that
a bike deserves to be on the road
and that I shouldn’t have to
be a champion mind-reader?

I cringe every time I see the ads
where the car is presented as a toy,
As a fun little thing to drive,
with thin blonde women,
and their attendant good looking types,
or the family of four on holiday

Never is the car a weapon,
loaded with human fallibility,
arrogance and stupidity,
nor is it tonnes of inefficiency,
wards of asthmatics and hip fractures
no the car is something friendly!

never is the car just another way
to get from A to B

You just have to keep a careful watch,
look out for those too-friendly cars,
all too ready to hump your leg.

but when bike meets car
there's a human price to pay