Learning to Ride

Now and again
on warm spring mornings
low on the drop bars
cadence clipped clean

fluid transfer of force
orbiting the sweet spot
flesh, bone, alloy mesh

senses trawl a teeming sea
I still feel your hand
on the back of my seat

ragged breath your
big feet slapping
pavement as you release me
to the current, anchored

hands on knees while I recede
downstream pedaling
furiously beyond your reach.