Side Airbags by Michael Mira

Side airbags were made because
monotony causes our vision to be
constricted into a tunnel.

The trip from A to B
is a straight and narrow road,
comfortably cushioned
between the fat of your faith
in a perfect world.

You were taught that karma
is a fair system,
but the good die young
for no reasons at all.

Van Gogh shared this truth
when his brush stirred a maelstrom
in the Dutch evening skies:
The universe is meant to be chaotic.

Whatever divine justice you placed
your lifeline upon is but an illusion
of safety and order, because you didn’t
see that blue BMW run the red light,

nor the divorce papers that flanked you
from the left like two hijacked airplanes
that shattered a clear, sunny September day.
 
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Michael Mira is a writer and photojournalist who spends time between New York and Texas. He has been writing poetry and non-fiction since 2004 and has practiced photography just as long. He was a former op-ed contributor and reporter-at-large for World Correspondents. His poetry, essays and flash fiction have appeared in various publications, such as: Identity Theory, The Nervous Breakdown, Carcinogenic Poetry, MUSED: BellaOnline Literary Review, Straitjackets Magazine, The Denver Syntax and CommuterLit, among others.

Bay Laurel  /  Volume 1, Issue 1  /  Autumn 2012