Terry Reads His PoemFriday nights were production night, when we recorded a
lot of skits and sound effects for use on the show Saturday. My sister was
driving us to the studio but we were running a little late. In my sister's
haste to dump us off at the studio and get back to her boyfriend she was
doing about 80 km/h down a dark residential street that has a limit of 40
km/h. In her haste and delirium she never imagined kids would be playing
street hockey. I mean what were the odds of this in My little accident (a little vignette from By Terry Brown Bouncing down the highway at the speed of light An indifferent passenger watching the night When suddenly from the dusk it appeared at our left The unseen obstacle, the hockey net We cut to the right and back to the center Employing the brakes we slid towards the shoulder The car dipped down and caught in the ditch Our inertia continued, now vertically pitched In a moment we stopped Lying on the driver's side From the tone of the swearing We had all survived I took a quick inventory And felt profound relief Though dangling inversely Belted into my seat Like returned astronauts We crawled from the car Through a broken window Using for a step, my guitar We stood around joking at our brush with death Dispassionately retracing the path of the auto wreck In which lay a broken political lawn sign Which brought our main concern: a public mischief fine So quickly had it past It failed to be traumatic Though I had never been rolled In a front wheel drive automatic Perhaps in time I'll have nightmares And write dirges in the dark But in the meantime I'll be happy To walk away without a mark
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