Tonight's Poet Corner: Safety Day Day Day

Safety Day Day Day

by Belinda

The sign says it all:

Three times the day

sharing only one safety.

Abandoned rails rattle

bicycle tires. Tongues

behind masks feel soaked

in pickle brine.

Thirty-one years later,

and you feel like lying

about your age. But you're

still young, and you can

push yourself uphill

with your so-called

"thighs of thunder."

You have time to survive.

At the shipyard, the heads

you count are few and far

between. Noses and mouths

are exposed beneath construction

helmets, feeding into

nervous laughter. A positive

feedback loop. Like the Arctic

being set on fire.

The day and the day and the day

goes on in a lukewarm fashion.

How safe we feel after spinning

wheels is an entirely different story.

And you will have to monitor

any symptoms that appear

when you hold your lover

to your chest.