Two minutes, if there are no police, was my brag.
That’s how long it took me on the main drag
on a Sunday morning in 1980 from
the top of Crown Street near our place,
flying downhill, straight into the ocean.
Forget stopping for red lights or churchgoers,
because without a crash helmet,
and no shoes, just thongs,
in fact, hardly any clothes on,
(you’re not going out like that!),
no SPF anything, no surveillance cameras,
no Sunday trading,
no shoppers, no cars,
and, most importantly, no brakes,
not even broken ones,
I’m not stopping, even if I could
along the way,
one clock on the old department store tower,
and another outside the Town Hall,
now two blocks from the beach,
I can taste the surf,
in two minutes flat
ride fly swim
I’m ready to bite a shark
What a great last line! Love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteLove the pace of it.
ReplyDeleteRipper! Such a great picture of a town - the Gong - at that time. Like the rush of images contrasting with the Sunday quiet and the taste of sea. Ye- - great end.
ReplyDeletea true story? love it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lizz and Robbie. Yes, true! The long way (coming home) is flatter, but it meant having to use my braking manoeuvre - leg out, foot flexed, lean just enough and scrape heel, then slowly fall into the gutter before the red light at the bottom of the hill. Worked every time, but would scare the shit out of the traffic.
ReplyDelete