At fourteen I took the wheel
for the first time, leather grip tight
and wet with sweat. I remember
the road, smooth curve of concrete
carrying me away from my mother’s front door
in the car of an older boy I knew
between cigarettes after school.
How he trusted me I’ll never know,
his cool keys more like gold than silver
pressed in the palm of my eager hand.

Adrenaline accelerated
as the narrow pedal pulled me,
fear dropping as RPM’s rose. I turned
the corner of my childhood
street, racing past youth
on BMX bikes,
laughing wildly
as rubber met steel,
the stop sign bending,
barely kissing the ground.

06/22/2005

Posted on 06/23/2005
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