Big Trucks

Why would a man drive
an enormous truck? Of course,
some men have needs for big
trucks, construction, landscaping,
like that. Most are simply afraid.
If you've ever been stuck,
stuck in the winter cold,
stuck in mud, stuck in
a bad neighborhood late
at night, it's easy to understand
their fright. They don't want
to find themselves stuck. Ever.
The odd thing is that this
large-vehicle preoccupation
which stems from fear ends up
coming across as something
macho. "Wow, that's a big
truck, man. (You must be
really tough.)" Bah! Really
scared is more like it. Save
for the aforementioned good
reasons to own a truck,
a real man walks, or bikes,
or takes the bus. Come rain
or snow, there they strut,
there they stand waiting,
there they stream past us
moving too quickly on a
road bike. The men and
women who are the toughest
on earth are those unafraid
of being stuck.

(2007)