In the City

In the city I skateboard alone
............................................. at night
............................................................ in the street

through shattered glass and the bones of dead animals,
past graffiti gangs burning garbage in steel drums, HO! YO! YO!
and I feel the chill of bodies
....................................... hanging
in bottles of formaldehyde.

In the city I jump over bums
sleeping on the floors of subway stations, SNORE!
barge past the insanity of Times Square, HEY BABY!
hooker junky bag lady hag
motion being my only sanctuary, ZOOM!

In the city I run to the nose of my board, hang ten & tuck
and in homage to the ancient Hawaiians
knock over a row of garbage cans
like the lip of some rickety wave, BAM! BAM! BAM!
echoes shadows silence...
homeless streetwalker babble.

Freedom ................. if it exists
................ is here

Pumping down avenues
that will be clogged with traffic in just a few hours, BRUM!
all four wheels tracking independently
like some finely tuned German suspension system,
GO! SPEED RACER GO!

Faster! Faster! Faster!
Flying over potholes in a projectile motion...
I feel my board lift up and down as it
hydroplanes over unseen puddles, SPLASH! SPLASH!
and all that matters is action and reaction.

In a sensory overload parked cars on the sides of the road
merge into one long mass of meaningless metal, CRUNCH!
streetlights overhead turn into two permanent bars of light
like tracking lanes for some ancient outer-space vehicle,
CAPTAIN, ENERGIZE!
...and I glide over the sparkling carpeting
of a million bits of broken glass that reflect and flash
like heaven pounded into black top by cabs, BEEP! BEEP!

In the city the ground rumbles beneath my skateboard
like the wheels of so many subway trains, CLACK-CLACK!
with vibrations that carry up through my legs,
and remain like magic, long after I have gotten off my board.

by TJ Richter

© April 25, 1987 Theodore J. Richter