I dove to merge to the 101 with a horse cry of desperate joy.
Sometimes the 110 is like Autopia.
Fun fun fun at the Autobahn,
And you’re bobbling along in the sun
With carapace car parts and beady headlights.
Seething sun
Sun like glass.
The orange sports car behind me with a face like Donald Duck
Speeds up and I must fight to merge into my turn lane.
I dove to merge to the 101 with a horse cry of desperate joy.
All these routes mapped on Google lack the gasping joy of driving,
The drunk desperation of that one cocktail too many before closing
And my girlfriend passed out in the passenger seat
Slipping down Sunset and up Bonnie Brae.
Oh Bonnie Brae, you’re so easy.
Oh Bonnie Brae,
Red headed stepchild of the Echo Park backstreets,
Hold my hand, on the steering wheel and lead me home
Through this circus of cars and BTLS tagged on vans and walls.
Letters that hang over my daily walks, author unseen.
I just want my porch light and the cat that waits.
Curls up against the iron gate as I tread up in impossible shoes.
Oh Bonnie Brae, you slut!
But in a sandwich shop on Washington Blvd,
I, conspicuous white girl,
Am hiding my engagement ring between my fingers
And sipping sweet Subway coffee
While waiting for a scheduled-promised-cut-rate contact lens appointment
That I showed up humiliatingly early for.
Oh Washington Blvd, you smell like pupusas and payday loans.
You slap like the EBT not accepted for cigarettes
Signs at the Food 4 Less
And smile like the EBT accepted signs on the ATM
At the Cannabis Caregivers Alliance
My EBT card has $37.46 left on it.
Might have to use it up today.
I dove to merge to the 10 East, groping my map,
Swerving to the 110 North of palm and hibiscus.
Oh Bonnie Brae, carry me home.
—Andrea Lambert
Bio
Andrea Lambert is the author of Jet Set Desolate (Future Fiction London, 2009) and Lorazepam and the Valley of Skin / 730910-2155 (valeveil, 2009). She holds an MFA in Critical Studies from the California Institute of the Arts and is co-curator of the Featherless Reading Series. Her work has appeared in 3:AM Magazine, SUNSET.UNFO!, Chronometry, You’ve Probably Read this Before and is forthcoming in Tomorrow’s Literature Today and the So-Cal Telephone Book. She has performed at the West Hollywood Book Fair, the Los Angeles Road Concerts, the 2nd New Los Angeles Folk Festival, homo-centric and REDCAT.
Artist Info
andreaklambert.com