Back
A Selection from Incident at Thompson Slough


if he lived to be a hundred and four
he'd never figure out how he let that boy
talk him into getting on a bicycle
with a John Deere teeshirt and a basket on front
to bring the groceries back from the store
on double S & H Greenstamps day
he hadn't rode no bicycle for forty years
but that boy said it's one of those things
you never forget how to do like swimming
or making love to something firm and young
he didn't think to tell him
he never learned how to do moren dog paddle
and he knew for a fact he'd forgot
anything else about the othern

there he was wobbling down the road
on the way to Piggly Wiggly
boy said he was too tored
to offer to make the towntrip for him
it was only six miles mostly flat
he's sure it'd be okay and the doctor
said he oughta get some exercise anyway

            -- David Lee