April 12, 2009: The Rider, Naomi Shihab Nye
The Rider
Naomi Shihab Nye
A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him,
the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.
What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.
A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.
A year ago today: from Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, John Berryman
Two years ago: This Heavy Craft, P.K. Page
Three years ago: Late Ripeness, Czeslaw Milosz
Four years ago: A Martian Sends A Postcard Home, Craig Raine
