Hayley's poetry challenge

I had an idea for a post all ready but then I read Hayley's blog, as I am prone to doing, and found this irresistible. So here we go.

This poem will contain: a statistic, a dish eaten cold, three forms of heat, a smell you can't forget, a line from a movie, something out of a textbook, two things you wish you had said, a reference to an aunt or uncle, some kind of moving vehicle, two words beginning with R and ending with "-ion", a stage direction, two distinct hours of the day, an historical figure, an adhesive, an animal only seen up close in the zoo, a slang expression ("call it quits," for example), something really bad that you did, something that undermines or negates everything else you've said. (Hayley, you had better appreciate this because I had to get up of my bed and get one of the textbooks I couldn't sell back this semester out from under my desk and look up something to use from it. That's dedication.)

Relaxation does not always come around by 5 pm
Though if I had my way it would come much sooner.
People often say things like "That's so cliche" but
The secrets of life are hidden behind that word.

With my Zebra stripe gum that no one
actually knows the real name of,
I hit the road on a piece of bamboo 
with wheels, red wheels that remind
me of the sky around 8 at night, or
whenever else the sun decides to set and
look really nice, and also make me think of
a wood burning stove.

I ride the board to the left and right, front and back,
until I come upon signs that basically say,
"You shall not pass" and I turn around, looking,
searching for a way past, like Lewis and Clark,
except I know where I'm going, and I don't have to
worry about not eating lunch, unless I fall and crash
and skid across the asphalt. In which case the burn 
of road rash will send me straight on home.

My shoes contact the street, rubber on 
gray like duct tape, once black, pavement.
It's a chill time on the streets at sundown,
but sweet as well, though only in feeling and
not so much in taste. Which reminds me of
these thoughts: If revenge is a dish best served
cold . . . And if revenge is also sweet,
Does that make revenge ice cream?

It's a time of full of my own ruminations,
when nothing else matters but that slight tail
wind. I think of missing him terribly, the one
who gave me music that in effect changed my
life. I find my mind both blank and full because
of it; because of the one with the green hat.
That green hat means a lot and represents the past and 
the future. So who would have thought fabric
and string and cardboard could mean something?

There's a 50/50 chance when the return comes that
things may change. It's exhilarating and ridiculous all
at once, yet nothing will change that fact that I do care. 
Passing through streets with lawns out in front, large and small,
I wish for fresh cut Wisconsin grass and even the sound 
of a lawn mower with the threatening of large storm. Because I swear, 
Wisconsin cut grass is something special with rain clouds on the way.

There are people with kids who see me going by and riding around,
and I'm pretty sure they hope their kids don't follow too closely in my
push offs and wheel tracks. Let's face it: a less than one inch thick piece of 
board with grip tape is not much. But it's enough and gives me more
than one would ever think could be a product of such basic things.
So no it's not a time of relaxation, not really. It's an adrenaline rush of the most 
basic kind and gives a lot to me from not so much while at the same time giving
me nothing for all I can give it. 

Maybe it's humanistic psychology at its best, but I
wouldn't really know since we kind of skipped over that
part on New Age day of American religious history since
that war between those above and below the Mason Dixon.
So like Augustus Waters said, we don't get to choose 
whether we get hurt in this world. But we do get to choose 
who hurts us. And I like to think that applies to my recreation, 
and maybe to those with hats, as well. I know I'll get hurt,
eventually, but at least I chose it. And had a great time along that paved way.

That was actually really awesome to write. And I know it probably doesn't make much sense, poetic or otherwise, but I guess that's the point? At least to a degree. And like Hayley said in her blog, I'm not much for writing poetry though I do enjoy reading it. I, too, just made some haphazard line breaks with random punctuation. At least it looks kind of cool. And I know in yesterday's post I said I would rehash Sunday's events here but since I wrote this little poem instead I don't want to mush all that jazz together. So look for that in another post possibly laster today. Or maybe not. I intend to enjoy my last day before it's back to classes for spring semester so my computer time won't be that prominent today. It's also going to be 80F today! I need to be outside, that's for sure.


Last YouTube video I watched: Ultimate Red Velvet Cupcakes