Faster Than Memory
Give me one more ride.
Give me a fast ride until I’m dizzy — spinning round and round
Falling into the grass, like I was eight.
Let me lean in tight against you, arms looped around you, my face pressed
Hard against your worn leather jacket
Smelling of road and rebellion.
Rip through the gears, surge me forward.
Hearing nothing but the engine’s growl. Thrumming straight through my thighs.
Give me the smell of hot asphalt, the tang of gasoline, a pocket of honeysuckle,
Mostly the scent of your hair I grabbed the night before.
Take me to the horse barn with white fences.
Give me a place to lie down, right in the warm hay
Sweet and dry, like toasted straw. Look up, and see the dust floating
Down in the sunlight through thick air.
Let me walk into the tack room, breathe in the musty smell,
Rich with sweat, sun and saddle pads: dank and sour.
Give my fingers a velvet muzzle to stroke, one hand in a clump of mane.
Hear my horse sigh as I coo and cluck,
Grasp its withers, swing my leg over and settle,
Sink my heels deep into stirrups.
Give me one more ride, a good gallop.
Let me loosen the length of the reins
Watch the world slip past.
