Cheerios were all full of carbohydrates
And Keds made kids jump higher and run faster
Mothers used to yearn for cereals and shoes
That would sap energy and slow kids down
But animals small mammals small children
Are not vegetables or minerals
We vertebrates love movement
The ballet of ungulates on the plain
The freaks and pranks of our arboreal forebears
The shimmering synchrony of mackerel-crowded seas
The flocks of innumerable redwings
Turning on a dime
The irresistible force of vehicular traffic
Occupied of course by human operators
And shuttling like the crescent products
On an automated assembly line
Viewed externally the site of frenetic activity
But the gelatinous organism within
Locked in the stasis of a contour couch
Belted and stabilized airbag at the ready
The shell of metal and plastic hurtling uncannily
Until it cruises to a gentle stop
Or meets a catastrophic end

The pedestrian on the street made for cars
With its nominal sidewalk slim refuge
From the speeding vehicles large and small
At various point in history decisions were made
By nobody in particular
Or by people whose functional roles
Remained obscure even at the time
Council members expert advisors agents of industry
Concerning transport housing and communication
But in such case the world of systemic instrumentality
Developed according to nature-like processes
Subject to only the most diffuse of intentions
And we seem to get along pretty well
Fulfilling our obligations
Working and paying
Waking and sleeping
Belted and stable
Finding time for mandatory recreation
Or slavishly enumerating objects in the room
And drawing diffident inferences
Both in our comfortable interior spaces
And out there on the roads
The crumbling hazardous necessary roads