Mating Rituals of the Common American Parking Meter

By Shannon Riley

Little research has been conducted on the intimate relationship between standard city parking meter and the simple household quarter.

If we look closer we observe that the meter stands, eager, driven by evolutionary desire to fulfill its purpose in the great circle of bureaucratic privatization.

And there, accompanied by a rumbling engine, and pinched between fleshy fingers, the coin approaches. The meter, hot, yearns to taste the visitor. Metal on metal, the coin teases the entrance, ridged edge tickling the slot.

A decided push–
The meter swallows–
Belly fills–
Pressure builds–
Mechanisms shift as–
TIME EXPIRED clicks to 20:00

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Shannon writes because there is truth in fiction, and little truth anywhere else.