Drunkcyclist.com

Avalanche, Armada, Navigator. All Black. All sitting on twenties. There is even a Porsche in there somewhere. A black one, in a garage, on the right, with all the rest.
The Hummer on the corner, it too is black.
The houses on the left, all have white cars. A huge [...]

Three words…
Sometimes in life
I find myself wondering
why in the world
are you fucking kidding me
just how in the hell
did I get myself
into this.
Often
these thoughts
would enter my mind
while pushing my bike up
the power line climb in Leadville,
or going out
for another lap at 4:15am
Or, now, tonight,
writing that fifth brief at 12:45am
when the alarm is set for [...]

Well, if my calculator watch serves me correctly, I believe it’s Thursday. Time for a poem. Perhaps, first you have time for a quick story.
Working here at this gallery of art and other pop-culture curiosities, I rarely encounter a customer worth much at all. I mean, we have our regulars: the [...]

Small packages
Cigarettes are never as fun as you think they’ll be when you light one up. Nothing but disappointment in a small package.
The full moon split the tree tops and I sat on the back patio facing the moonlight. I found her cigarettes where I thought they’d be, in the center column of [...]

The Wagon
I sat in the front seat,
she was driving.
On a small back road
we passed an Idaho farm.
Mostly dust now, and sparce brown grass.
There was a broken, withered wagon
abandoned in the front yard.
Now midday sun blasting the shadows out,
just gone in the brightness.
Every crack and busted plank
of that wagon was illuminated.
I saw myself in this.
Much older, [...]

Nowhere to be.
The crowd is closing in,
grouping like a stockyard.
Elbows are bumping,
some hand grazed my hip.
The air is getting thicker, and stale.
Breathing, labored.
I’m close to panting.
My palms are sweating, more
than my armpits.
I keep wiping them on
the front of my jeans.
The pocket seams are moistening,
almost damp, like a San Francisco awning.
I try to move forward, then [...]

He quit
He told me once
that he decided
to quit smoking
when he visited
his father
who had cancer
in the hospital.
He saw people
sitting outside
on park benches
taking their
chemotherapy
dosages
and smoking
at the same time
with thin aluminum stands
next to them
holding bags of poison
to fight
what the poison
they continued
to inhale
had done
to them
already.

Overheard at the bike shop:
“What’d he call me?”
“Vanilla.”
“Why’d he call me Vanilla?”
“I dunno. Some kind of put down I guess. Trying to say you’re bland or something.”
“How’d he know vanilla was my favorite flavor?”
“Vanilla is your favorite flavor?”
“Are you kidding. Vanilla might just be the greatest flavor of all time.”
And so it [...]

Recovery
My pain is with me always.
It is the last thing I feel before I fall asleep,
and the first thing I feel when I wake up.
When I get up from this chair,
it’ll take me a minute to gather myself.
The pain will be there.
It is always there,
waiting for me.

Pump
I’m standing around,
killing the grass.
A guy walks in the bike shop.
I ask him how’s it going
or some shit,
if he needs help finding anything.
He is here to see the pumps.
I walk with him
and I show him the display.
There are two choices:
These are the small pumps,
portable,
that you can take with you when you ride.
These are floor pumps,
that [...]

Cold Lid
This toilet seat lid
is far from comfortable
as I stare down at the patterns
in the linoleum hall bath
trying to reel in the fading wisps
of the last great poem I wrote in my sleep
and lost in my consciousness.

Our place in the world
Does writing anything about it make it easier?
I’ll answer that later I suppose.
Or,
at least,
I hope I will
All my friends are hitting the wall.
Is it the weather, the time of year?
The fact we’re all getting older?
We’re all seeking out happiness,
our place in this world.
I only hope we can all find it,
wherever and [...]

Knock
Sometimes you’ve got to knock life around,
before it knocks you around.
It’s one or the other.
Him or me.

A sled
My wife
turned toward me
the other morning
asked me
do you
want to
get our thing
and see if it sleds?
What thing?
I asked.
She looked at me
and said
simply
a sled.

From: Fitty
Subject: Friday Haiku
I know that I’m not an “official” contributor, but…
We drank with Leche
He drank Bud, we drank Bourbon
What a puss, he sucks!!
Yes. Yes he does.

Fraud
I am afraid of writing
of committing to it
giving myself over.
Its not terribly easy
you know
digging that deep
putting it all on paper.
sharing it all.
for the whole world to see.
I’m afraid they’ll all
point and laugh
once they
figure out I’m a fraud.
Maybe
they already know.
And
if they can accept it
why can’t I?
 

If only
There is nothing
else to do
other than
stay up late
drinking beer
and listening
to music.
Work will come
with the morning
as it always
has.
I will say yes
to men I do not care about.
And I will be paid
to do it.
What I want to do
is put drop bars
on my geared
twenty-niner
and tear the
gears
right
off
her.
I know
that she will
love me more for it
if
I only had
the brake levers
to [...]

From: Scott
Subject: thrusday poem
Jonny,
My buddy Jake, who is my touring/riding partner and
all around bike ripper has been working for this
environmental awareness company called 2041,
www.2041.com. He returned from a stint working for
them in Antarctica only to head back out on their
sailing voyage around the world. It’s [...]