Bike Week is upon us. In British Columbia it takes place during the last week of May with events to help everyone get pedalling for their health, and for the environment. I don’t cycle these days, but I have vivid memories of riding everywhere, we had no car, when I was growing up …
a ‘sit-up-and-beg’
rust-spotted tired
pedals built-up
with wooden blocks
for me
I sat proud
on cracked leather seat
held tight
to broken hand-grips
flaunted my ability
up down
those rounded hills
until a fast
approaching car
frightened me onto
our wooden gate-post
A Summer Father … terse, imagistic lines; … It’s not nostalgia that we experience but quiet, poignant grief. Richard Stevenson
I remember bicycles like that; “sit-up-and-beg” is a very apt description. They always put gate posts in the wrong place, don’t they? I remember many spills on my bicycle as a child and as an adult. I love your writing.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Cheers,
Dennis
Hi Dennis, Spills, grazes, scars … but flying down hills, no gears,
it really was fun. I like your poetry too. Good to share. Joanna