It seems to me that in her poem "The Hitchhikers" Wakoski associates herself with the hitchhikers. It is a bit ambiguous as to what exactly it is she lost, but it seems she earns for her lover that she lost. Now Wakoski associates her situation with that of a hitchhikers whom she refuses to pick up.
It seems that she is running away from something, because the mere image of hitchhikers remind her of driving accrues country and looking for her lover's face in the faces of strangers "hitchhikers/reminding me of hell. That I had what I wanted once,/and lost it,"
Author's conflict of self-0preservation arises feelings of guilt for not picking up the hitchhikers; this can be easily transferred towards how she feels about man. Wakoski was known to be very outspoken about her relationships with men, and this poem seems to fit into the pattern of self expression about her relationship.
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Yes--why she doesn't pick up the hitchhikers is really all about the role they play, unwittingly (the humor of the last 2 lines), in her own psycho-drama--what lies beneath all those superficial "excuses." The car, of course, at 60, 70, etc. mph--no matter how fast--is no escape--she carries the sacrificial alter with her... (can't run away from your self...can't out run the hitchhikers who are, of course, always still--psychologically, imginatively--there) See Diana A's and Janelle's blogs and my comments, and Bb exercise.
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