Bread and Cake 

The black Mercedes
with the Ayn Rand 
vanity plate
crashed through 
the glass bus stop
and came to rest 
among a bakery’s 
upturned tables.
In the stunned silence,  
fat pigeons descended 
to the wreckage
and pecked at 
the scattered
bread and cake.
The driver slept,
head to the wheel.
The pigeons grew
rich with crumbs.
The broken glass winked.
God grinned.
Credit

Copyright @ 2014 by Kevin Prufer. Used with permission of the author. This poem appeared in Poem-a-Day on May 5, 2014.

About this Poem

“I was driving down Westheimer Road in Houston, Texas, when I noticed the erratically driven car in front of me with the Ayn Rand vanity plate. I couldn’t help but imagine it plowing into a nearby bakery. I suppose the pigeons in my poem represent most of us—though I’m not sure if God is grinning at the economic system that brought them such good fortune, or at something else.”

—Kevin Prufer