RECALLING THE REPETITIONS OF PEDDLING,
A GOOD RIDE, RECOILING AND RECALL
Back from ride. Drops in the eyes.
Eyes good. Karen back from coffee.
A showing with her quilt. Healthy eyes.
My ride goes up Washington Ave
to the end. Johnny Wright singing Hello Vietnam.
I pull into an orchard between pears and apples,
glean an apple from the ground, Honey Crisp?,
sweet. Crunchy. Eating with one hand on bars
until I stop at light and turn on to 72d,
a 50-year old song booming
Or freedom will start slipping through our hands
fires we don't put out will bigger burn,
riding the sidewalk. This stretch full
of dumpsters with grass clippings,
this being Tuesday. It's quite a weave,
but walk free of glass. Last week one
handle bar clips a mailbox and I end up
in a private drive, but on my feet.
West Valley Library's between two lights
and I pull into bike rack and lock up.
Carrying a back pack just in case.
Check out new books. Pull out What the Hell happened?
Election of 2016, by the Rolling Stone editor,
walk to call number 759, to see if the Wyeth
books have come in. They haven't.
But this: 12 Centuries of Japanese Imperial Art,
carry it to the reading section, find this poem,
anonymous calligraphy, Let
our Way, poetry
That we have rightly
received
From the age of the
gods
Not want in this
world!
I take pictures with my IPhone
and when I get home find I don't have
some info in book I need. Sloppy work.
I'll pay for that and never know when!
Replacing both books on shelves
I'm back on my bike, peddling
uphill to light at Summitview,
shifting down into first gear
on middle sprocket, avoiding goatheads
as I wobble. It's mainly downhill from here,
fast all the way home, but lots of glass,
why is that? glass I know is here,
but fail to anticipate every time.
Zig-zag some, then safe past 64th
one mile to on flat paved shoulder
back to Washington and home.
Bump-stocks in Las Vegas bounce.
Like a song of repetition.
Bouncing. What gets easier comes
with leg strength and peddling.
Familiarity of the common.
Words in journals banging,
this ride ends at home with my
index finger on the automatic garage door opener.
Jim Bodeen
4-5 October 2017
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