WHEELS

for the last couple of months
while sweet barbara anne has been incapacitated
we've had an x reg vw polo standing in our drive
aw!
this one-ton assemblage
of metal and plastic and rubber
of grease and electronics
such a blessing
and such a curse
on an icy morning
when the north wind is blowing
and i must bisect the city
from leafy selly oak to grubby handsworth
the warm interior of this silver chariot
seems like a godsend
on new year's day
pistons blazing
it whisked us in no time
through bright countryside
to the gentle flanks of breedon
where public transport rarely ventures
mrs fireseed and the woodle
are chauffeured to and fro
monday ballet class
saturday swimming class
supermarket runs
friends' parties
the numerous locations
that are a pain and a hassle
to get to on foot
or by public transport...
but the taxi service quickly becomes a bind
and the empty tank symbol reappears
with surprising swiftness
shell
bp
esso...
not much of an ethical choice
when it comes to filling up
then there's the parking
the chronic road congestion
the road rage
the impatient lunatics
another room to get dirty and messy
both inside and out
as if we didn't have enough of those already
and suddenly the lean machine
that i left standing idle for a month in the garage
starts to reasset its attractiveness
my two-wheeler doesn't depend
on frequent guilt trips to petrol stations
owned by ruthless and exploitative corporations
she doesn't burn up
millions of years of accumulated energy
in a split second
my two-wheeler never gets gridlocked
in the rush-hour crush
she's much too svelte and manouevrable
she doesn't lock me away
behind a lonely isolating anti-social windscreen
she transports me at a human-scale pace
she allows me to take in the sights
the sounds and the smells
she's cool if i want to stop and smell the roses
or admire a tree captured in winter sunlight
or shake off a stubborn tailgater
she shows me the value of my own graft
she gets my heart pumping
my lungs breathing
and my muscles flexing
she puts me in a state of meditation
an alertness
a here and nowness
she keeps my feet on my ground
or at least very close to it
and i rest on her pedals
not on my stan laurels