​What I'll See on that Bicycle Ride



The deer head in the front yard
on Gem Drive. The 58 Ford on blocks.
(The satisfying click of the freewheel
saying "How we go on!") Madonna
in her bathtub. The pair of Rottweilers
lunging at the invisible fence.
(Sun glinting from my handlebars.)
The brown shed where the woman
screamed. On the crooked little
cross with plastic flowers: "Kevin."
(Tires forgiving the bumps, but
the wind warning.) The mound 
where the square house stood--
Clara said Union troops
stopped for coffee. (Then
the spokes snap, and 
everything begins.)

©Daniel Dahlquist