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UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY
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BOB BRILL Pete's Last Ride one time one time only a motorcycle was her chair that chair flying down a long straight country road young Pete driving she hanging on behind her arms about him one hand in his pants no floor but the streaming road below their feet no walls but the whistling wind no roof but the overarching trees whip whipping past Pete's strong body Pete's steady grip a sudden turn made her gasp as he left the road plunged onto a narrow winding trail through a sumac thicket braked to a stop he took her hand led her from the bike tumbled her in the grass by a field with corn just breaking the earth two weeks later cold spring rainy night Pete sprawled under his cycle head against the curb on wet city street painted with bright stabbing headlights taillights trailing long red smears ambulance roaring to a stop medics bending down to lift the bike from Pete's twisted body could not make out the words that bubbled through the blood oozing from his mouth Two Portraits he came in slamming the door behind him saying oops but I noticed his smile grow larger this slambuoyant friend of mine doctor told him you have a pathological condition how true said my friend I walk the path illogical leaping off high cliffs at least two feet tall falling on my face again and again but it's worth it for the times I land on my feet astonishing everyone he jumped out of a plane in his undershorts in harness with a half-naked woman contrary to some people's expectations (or was it their secret wish?) the chute opened and they landed safely laughing and shouting and rolling on the ground bittersweet the mixture of admiration resentment and envy as I said well done asshole you should try it sometime he said to me who always plays it safe Bob Brill has published fiction in Lunarosity, Bewildering Stories, Flashquake, M-Brane SF, The Cynic Online Magazine and other journals, as well as short memoir pieces in Flashquake. His poems have appeared in Simply Haiku, Prune Juice, 3Lights Gallery, 3Lights Journal, Aphelion, The Battered Suitcase, Willows Wept Review, Frogpond and tinywords. He is the featured senryu poet in the Autumn 2009 issue of Simply Haiku. He is awaiting publication at Atlas Poetica and Magnapoets. |
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