WWJD?

One Hundred Percent

I am following my star
and the row of cars
heading East
clogging the Southern State
like a hampered artery
barely flowing slowly
stop and going in the Friday night heat
toward weekend Hampton retreats
on the end of Suffolk County.
The faulty AC in my ‘89 Ford Probe
cranks hot air and exhaust,
my AM radio crackles bleakly
stories running together –
more bad war news from Iraq
an impending Iranian nuclear attack
al-Qaeda in the streets
massacring Burmese monks
soaring costs of crude
fueling dire economic forecasts
driving higher gas prices at the pumps.
A silver Lexus RX SUV cuts in front of me
without a signal and my old brakes squeal.
The woman talking on her cell has no clue.
The bumper sticker opposite her Bush
Cheney ‘04 glowing redder in the brake lights
announces proudly: “100% Jesus.”
I pull up beside her when I can
but she is still on the phone
and doesn’t notice me. So I toot
and when she looks I turn my window down
and say: “Hey, don’t they put directionals
on such an expensive car? And is Jesus
anything like orange juice?”
She dismisses me with a clear hand signal
and gets back to matters more important.
It makes me realize that I
must be only 40% Jesus at best –
with lesser degrees of Buddha,
Allah,
and a smattering of atheist thrown in.

© 2007 J. E. Scalia from Poetry In Alphabetical Order