Sy Roth- Two Poems

Brakes

I tested the tentative that day.

Lost in the reality of time

found a steamer trunk filled with inanity

staring back.

Rode that day on the used, blue Schwinn

he brought home

red, white and blue streamers on the handlebars

lilting on a stream of fall air.

He held on to the seat

whooshed me forward.

The wind wrapped my face.

Only forward existed.

Damned the esses and els of pathways.

Sharp corners, miles of soft mountain slopes

managed with verve.

Felt blasts of wind swaddle my face,

etch my cheeks hollow,

ruffle my hair.

The wind, silent sister,

sang tantalizing Siren songs.

We forgot about brakes

about the need to stop.

Like a dark cloud,

the garage door loomed.

No brakes

only a sudden thunk into an empty pool

broken rhythm of  a body transformed

into a mallet pounding a bass drum.

Jellied foot,

patella speaking outside torn fabric

spoke cautionary lessons.

Waits

Waits cross-legged in his garage

uniformed in black jogging pants,

bottoms pulled up to his calves,

support hose making his ankles look like sausages.

He exhales nimbus-gray clouds of smoke,

red ash glowing between his fingertips.

Like a Sphinx,

he stands guard at his garage

atomized in a haze of carbon dioxide.

At his table, on his plastic chair

he pores over the latest installment of Newsday.

Each day, the silent warrior conducts his business of

sitting and waiting.

Lonely warrior of a trunk full of memories

piled helter-skelter in the corner of his loneliness.

Copse of cigarettes butts grows into a mountain of dead stubs.

Words, a shimmering oasis, dance on the pages.

Head lackadaisically turns to the street periodically,

a passing nod to humanity.

He sits and waits.



bio

He comes riding in and then canters out. He resides in Mount Sinai, far from Moses and the tablets. This has led him to find words for solace.   He spends his time writing and playing his guitar. He has published in many online publications. One of his poems, Forsaken Man, was selected for Best of 2012 poems in Storm Cycle.  Twice selected Poet of the Month in Poetry Super Highway.  He was named Poet of the Month for the month of February in BlogNostics. Included in Poised in Flight anthology.  A Murder of Crows named Poem of the Week in Toucan.