The Release and the Stall

The engine is off but the radio hums,

counting the minutes until the night comes.

I’m staring at the dashboard’s green digital glow,

nowhere to go and nowhere to show.

My thumb finds the button, a mechanical snap,

like a sudden release of a long-hidden trap.

The webbing is frayed where it rubs on my coat,

and the sound of the metal is a dry, heavy note.

I’m free from the seat but I stay in the dark,

listening to the cooling of metal and spark.

The click was the end of the day’s long machine,

now I’m just a person, somewhere in between.