Ahead of Tropical Cyclone Alfred, e-scooters trap a car – by Isabella G Mead
The e-scooters have organised themselves
into chromatic tessellations. A hive of shivering bees
on electrified stems, life-
forms on sleep mode. Shirking the congregation
is a small orange car, the last of its kind.
Resigned to its lot
until the man approaches. Sensing other predators
nearby, he moves slowly, carefully:
one wrong move
will rouse something unspeakable.
One by one, with the excessive care
of ritual, he removes each e-scooter by hand.
When a path emerges, the man enters the vehicle,
reverses, exits the screen. What we don’t see:
his foot stomping on the accelerator,
the car hurtling down slick and shuttered streets,
e-scooters regrouping,
forming a shelter of steel and agitated wire,
in burrows and nests the animals bracing
for Alfred to make landfall.
after ‘Brisbane man’s car trapped by e-scooters
ahead of Tropical Cyclone Alfred’ (video),
published on The Guardian’s website, 7 March 2025 ▼
Image: Muhammad Ahmad - Unsplash
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