Toxic
︎︎︎ Bronwen Lam
︎ Mar 15, 2023
He calls her a whore and she calls him a cab
We won’t be doing this again they both agree without agreeing
What are you doing he says
Sending you off she says
Giving you a send off she says
She pushes his head flaked with dandruff into the back seat
Like a cop he says
Like a cop she says
The cab driver smiles like a cop, like a king or a mayor
Where to boss, he says
She leans in close
Fingers and nails and hair and perfume
Over the window, through the window
She says
Straight to the dump, no detours, not stops
She thumps the trunk of the cab
Like a horse
And they’re off
We won’t be doing this again they both agree without agreeing
What are you doing he says
Sending you off she says
Giving you a send off she says
She pushes his head flaked with dandruff into the back seat
Like a cop he says
Like a cop she says
The cab driver smiles like a cop, like a king or a mayor
Where to boss, he says
She leans in close
Fingers and nails and hair and perfume
Over the window, through the window
She says
Straight to the dump, no detours, not stops
She thumps the trunk of the cab
Like a horse
And they’re off
Bronwen Lam lives and writes in NYC. Her work has appeared in The Drunken Canal and in emails to her mom.