I had never read any of Sherman Alexie’s poems before, Wedged in between the short stories in his collection War Games were a number of poems, the most interesting of which is this one at the start of the book:

The Limited

I saw a man swerve his car
And try to hit a stray dog,
But the quick mutt dodged
Between two parked cars

And made his escape.
God, I thought, did I just see
What I think I saw?
At the next red light,

I pulled up beside the man
And stared hard at him.
He knew that’d I seen
His murder attempt,

But he didn’t care.
He smiled and yelled loud
Enough for me to hear him
Through our closed windows:

“Don’t give me that face
Unless you’re going to do
Something about it.
Come on tough guy,

What are you going to do?”
I didn’t do anything
I turned right on the green
He turned left against traffic.

I don’t know what happened
To that man or the dog,
But I drove home
And wrote this poem.

Why do poets think
They can change the world?
The only life I can save
Is my own.