Judy Roy, whose poem was used as one of the prompts for the May Challenge, a poem regarding roles, selected "Learning to ride a bike" as the winning submission. Congratulations to the poet, Nancy Ann Schaefer. This is a poignant poem about role reversal.
Learning
to ride a bike
To the
parents I once knew: The Dad
who
danced sock-footed as I balanced
on his
toes, Old Spice from Christmas
tickling
my nose. The Mom who taught
me how
to bake & hem & knit woolen
caps;
the smell of sugar cookies cooling
in
airy kitchen when home from school,
shaken
and spent, my telltale hands
chalk-caked
from blackboard shaming,
buffeted
by figures unfathomable as
Rubik’s
Cube, unruly—brain & fingers
out of
sync, unsteady, like on my bicycle
without
training wheels for the first time.
Mastery
did come, Dad running beside me,
strong
hand guiding handlebar, Mom calling
You
can do it! Keep peddling! firm push, legs
pumping,
acceleration, equilibrium—joy drunk
on
speed & freedom, wind whistling at my back.
And
now, years later & I am grown: Bad news,
the
doctor says. Your husband, father… AD….
His
words punch the antiseptic air. Mom’s voice,
so
sure before, is fretted & low; her eyes, search
beams
sweeping over his face, white coat, diplomas.
Silence.
The doctor clears his throat, looks
away.
I squeeze her hand. I’m here Mom,
I’m
here. Peddling hard against the wind.
~ Nancy
Ann Schaefer
This poem was previously published in the Rockford Review (Summer 2012). Copyright belongs to the author.
Here is what the judge had to say about this poem: "Learning
to Ride a Bike shows clearly the switch in roles. The author brings me
right into the family home, the childhood experience of learning to ride. There
are several excellent choices of words: Old Spice tickling my nose, brain
and fingers out of sync, joy drunk on speed, Mom’s voice…fretted and low. I
particularly like the way peddling returns in the last line."
Nancy Ann Schaefer is a recovering academic
living in Maine with her husband, dog and three cats. Her poems have appeared
in a number of anthologies and journals, including Off Channel, Numinous,
Avocet, Tipton Poetry Journal, In Other Words: Mérida, Lake
City Lights, Distilled Lives and The Rockford Review, among
others. A Pushcart Prize nominee, her first chapbook, In Search of Lode,
was published by 918studio. She is currently working on her second collection.
LOOK WHAT'S COMING:
Check back on June 1 for the next Poetry Challenge.
Consider joining me on Saturday, June 6, at the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. I will be leading a workshop entitled "On a Line By: Writing Poetry Inspired by Other Poems," from 1-2 pm in Room 5038, Jones College Prep. I will also be reading with others form Poets & Patrons of Chicago at 4:15 Saturday on the Arts and Poetry Stage. You can learn more about the Lit Fest at Printers Row Lit Fest.
.Later in the summer (August 16-21), I'll be leading a poetry workshop at the Green Lake Christian Writers' Conference. You can find more information on the conference at Green Lake Conference Center. Click on "conferences" and then on "adults."
Green Lake Conference Center
©
Wilda Morris
