Ride -2005

During the period that this work was written, I was quite smitten by a tall, tough, fun and feisty farmgirl from Ohio who had brains, brawn and a talent for languages.  She was also one of those people that work their way into your life, your heart and your head and never do quite leave – even if they’re not immediately present in the day to day drudgery of existence any longer.  I normally refer to her in code in my posts – either as “TLG” ( an unfortunately chosen acronym for “The Last Girlfriend” among my friends – HAH! ) – or as Jazmin, which harks back to an old screenname of hers.  In any case, this poem is full of hidden meanings and suggestions that only she and I would probably understand on their face – to the reader, it may appear to be nothing more than a work referring to me riding pillion while she drives her bike down the country roads… yet there is something running underneath which is a theme ( a dollar, a drink or a candy to the first reader who can correctly identify the secondary theme! ) that was an important current to the relationship.

(I should note that you’re not seeing things – unless you’ve access to better intoxicants that I do!  The spacing and irregular pacing is indeed intentional – and really can’t properly be replicated on a webpage alone – it really does look much better in print in monospace Courier type – but that can’t be helped here, so sorry for the inconvenience – I tried as best I could to make the work fit the space).

---

Ride

–

Strap me

to the back

of

that

thing

–

and

take me

for a

——- ride

–

Weave me

in

——– and

out

——– at speed.

–

Arms wrapped round

in a tight embrace

–

Wind

——- in

———– my

——— face

–

The

——– lash

of

——– your

hair

——– ‘gainst

my

——- skin.

–

Pressed up tight against you

–

I’ll

take

every ————- bump

in

———- the

—————– road

–

and

laugh

with

joy.

–

Take me

down

———- those

——— curves

I’ve

————– felt

–

and drive me

down new roads

–

The

ruts

the ———- mud

–

It’s ——– part

of

——– the ride

–

Let’s take it

in stride

and smile

again

–

so when

the road

smooooooths out

and

we glide

like

———– ice

on

——— glass

–

and

pass each

exit flying

–

with laughter

and

a smile

–

no

stopping

——– for awhile;

–

we’ve

got

plenty

of

fuel

–

and

–

I trust

——– you

enough

to know

———- you’ll pull

us off

——– to safety

–

if ever you sense

———— hazards

in

——- our

————- path.

— circa 2005 —