DERRING-DO by Tom Lyford
fear-frozen at 200 feet
up the tower
on a shit-for-brains
high school dare
secretly sobbing in prayer
terrified but compelling myself
forward at 18 and midnight
into the abandoned parking lot
to face the fly-boy to see
who gets to keep the girl
peer-pressured
into inching up
old tumbledown's iced face
on pitons and ropes, mortality
playing chicken with gravity
and what the hell was i thinking
roaring my rice-rocket at 65
down those breathless
horseshoe curves on the
kangamangus highway
forever dancing my foolhardy,
daredevil monkey-see-monkey-do
seeking LIFE in the
reckless and giddy gamble
of life and limb
