Challenging Poetry

moving violation

first date.
blind date—
food, movie,
getting to know him
as we drove
darkened streets,
in search of ice cream,
not ready to face
our roommates’ interrogation
(they set us up)
not wanting ending—

until a flash and a wail
a siren’s end.
we stopped,
staring at each other,
confused.
a knock at the window.
he fumbled his wallet,
the glove box hit my knees,
followed by an avalanche
of registration.

—you ran a stop sign,
the officer said,
and we frowned and swore
we didn’t see—
of one mind
in our disbelief.

with a warning,
the officer left,

but he turned again around the block,
to prove the stop sign
we hadn’t seen—
existed.

he drove in silence
to my flat.
and dropped me there,
face red, not looking me in the eyes—
and I was not surprised,
when the promised call
never came.

I got the impression that he thought it was my fault somehow. Which was a shame because it had been a good date before the police got involved.

I had a difficult time with this one--I just didn't know anything illegal to write about, because I'm a generally law abiding person. ah well.