This poem is all about the tension and compassion sparked between strangers in a city that is known for its tough reputation, all over a minor accident where no actual harm was done.
It illustrates how people don't stop and assess the damage done before they start hurling angry obscenities at each other and threatening to sue. At the very end I found that the women's violent reactions to one another came out of fear, sort of like they were venting angry words as a way of chastising one another for creating such a scare. Feelings such as anger and frustration often seem to be rooted in fear.
The poem points out that people should forgive each other for making mistakes, even if they could have caused a large amount of damage. There was no need for angry outbursts on either woman's part. There was no damage done to their vehicles, the women themselves were not harmed. Someone was at fault but in the end no one got hurt. What is there to yell about?
I think that what the author is trying to communicate is that in this day and age, in a large city where many people think they have to look out for number one all the time and where stress and tension runs so high that all it takes is one tap on the shoulder for someone to snap at another person, people need to look up from their tightly wound tunnel vision and assess the situation before they start pointing fingers and taking out their anger on the other person involved. Anger and resentment gets you nowhere.
To me the poem is partly about how we sometimes just have to yell -- we have so much going on inside us, and are trained to be on the defensive so that we can drift over into the offensive without much provocation.
ReplyDeleteThe poem is about being human, perhaps?