put the car in park, turn it off, and step out

a couple of new books

arrive

in the mail

from Amazon.

i carry the package over

to the big

chair

by the window.

the chair with a good reading

light.

i open

up the package

and flip through the books.

i happily anticipate

many hours of reading,

but then i hear a ding

and open up my phone.

i spend

the next two hours

watching YouTube videos.

i'm specifically glued

to a site called

'Put the Car in Park

and Step Out'.

it's not unlike a bottomless

bag of potato chips,

just one more, one more.

it's interesting how so

many people

drink and drive, or smoke dope

when behind

the wheel.

most don't carry a license,

registration,

or have insurance,

or tags that are up to date.

they are usually doing

90 in a 55

with a bottle

of booze under the seat, or

a syringe and plastic

bag

on the dashboard,

rarely are they using their seatbelt.

it always ends the same.

the Sargent comes, the supervisor

arrives,

they surround

the car, asking repeatedly

for identification.

finally, the po po are exasperated, 

a window

gets broken and the driver

is thrown

to the ground, tazed a few times,

then cuffed

and taken

off to the pokey.

it's all

a lot of fun to view, but

at some point i have to get back

to the books.

one more video though,

just one more,

and i'm through.