Selected poem: Traffic
Brynn Saito is the author of two books of poetry, Power Made Us Swoon (2016) and The Palace of Contemplating Departure (2013), winner of the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award from Red Hen Press and finalist for the Northern California Book Award.
Traffic
Woman warrior when stuck in traffic
sings love songs, screams, screeches her wheels
across the lost metropolis
puts locks on certain memories
to survive. She has nothing
to say to you
she has everything
to say to you
she sees you in the next car—
forehead pressed to the steering wheel
stereo blaring
sweeping your mind with your eyeballs.
You’re a full-blown adult now—
blind as a hubcap to the unseen world.
Brynn Saito, “Traffic” from Power Made Us Swoon.
Copyright © 2016 by Brynn Saito.
Reprinted with the permission of Red Hen Press.