EVs are Parked at Sinai
For every assembly line worker
who ever built an electric vehicle,
fast becoming a religious act.
America is addicted to oil….
— George W. Bush
To build
to drive
to pass by
all pumps
while singing
Cohen’s Hallelujah
(the lyrics altered
of course)
These are holy acts
high-tech tikkun olam*
Worldwide
cities bake
earth cracks
Seas seethe
with lavic anger
killing coral
drowning islands
driving schools away
There is no master switch to stop it
Only a long road
in cars charged
with a single
message—enough!
GPS the way to Sinai
There we shall park
A new commandment
awaits Mosaic masses
shall read it to
gas-addicted nations
Thou shalt not
despoil the planet
Program it to
our on onboard
computers
Engage our engines
freed from spark plugs
and all things internally
combustive
Drive on to spread
the good news
Eventually though…
we must pull over
slide to the passenger side
let other believers drive
We have tried
to turn back
from blindly
mapped destruction
It is not you to finish the work,
neither are you free to desist from it,
Rabbi Tarfon has taught.
Drive on.
* Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase and concept meaning to repair the world.
8 thoughts on "EVs are Parked at Sinai"
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I like how the poem picks up steam in its clamorous pilgrimage to Sinai where it plants its commandment–and then relaxes a bit.
I really dig this poem! The title is great.
Corrected version:
To build
to drive
to pass by
all pumps
while singing
Cohen’s Hallelujah
(the lyrics altered
of course)
These are holy acts
high-tech tikkun olam*
Worldwide
cities bake
earth cracks
Seas seethe
with lavic anger
killing coral
drowning islands
driving schools away
There is no master switch to stop it
Only a long road
in cars charged
with a single
message—enough!
GPS the way to Sinai
There we shall park
A new commandment
awaits Mosaic masses
shall read it to
gas-addicted nations
Thou shalt not
despoil the planet
Program it to
our on onboard
computers
Engage our engines
freed from spark plugs
and all things internally
combustive
Drive on to spread
the good news
Eventually though…
we must pull over
slide to the passenger side
let other believers drive
We have tried
to turn back
from blindly
mapped destruction
It is not for you to finish the work,
neither are you free to desist from it,
Rabbi Tarfon has taught.
Drive on.
* Tikkun Olam is a Hebrew phrase and concept meaning to repair the world.
We have tried
to turn back
from blindly
mapped destruction
I like the rythm and the sound of this, but in saying it outloud, I wondered, Have we?
we must pull over
slide to the passenger side
let other believers drive
Another well constructed strophe, the rhyme side/drive, but do other believers need to drive, or do nonbelievers need to drive?
A good poem makes people wonder, to consider what the poet was saying, to mull it over. I’m mulling! Well done!
Really nice, Lee. If only “Thou shalt not / despoil the planet” had been #11 perhaps a different world we’d have.
Remember the timeless teachings of Mel Brooks. There were actually 15 commandments, but Moses dropped one of the tablets. Hey, they were heavy and he was an old guy. Cut him a break!
still laughing…
and just because it broke off doesn’t mean its not expected!
Great poem.
Amen! “Thou shalt not
despoil the planet”