Catherine Chandler's Poetry Blog

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Madison Street: Thinking of Happiness, She Thinks of That

 

 










The title of this poem (a sonnet one sentence long) was inspired by Richard Wilbur's poem "Running".


Thinking of Happiness, She Thinks of That

 

My Dad brought home a girls’ bright red Schwinn bike

he hopes will tone his polio-weakened limbs,

but since I’m still too short for it, I sail

on gray slate sidewalk slabs, no two alike,

up by the house of Archie Ray, who swims

bare-naked at the Y; then with a Hail

Mary in my heart, take Butler hill

full-speed-ahead from Dooley’s Bar & Grille

and Jake’s Garage, a strong wind at my back

pushing me past Merriweather Lane,

my metal wheels repeating clickety-clack,

my roller skate key swinging on its chain,

till, coasting to the Lehigh railroad track,

I catch my breath beside an outbound train.


 

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