It's Poetry Month!

In honor of poetry month, today I'm blogging a poem I recently wrote.

One Birthday

I was an only child who wanted one thing on her birthday:
A one-wheeled cycle
Over and over I told my parents in the weeks before my day –
I want this one thing
Only this one thing
When my morning came,
My eyes opened to see:
One black seat atop a smooth, shiny, silver pipe that divided in two over a single wheel
The tire swelled with one fat, fresh tire
Silver spokes like shiny pick-up sticks scattered in one perfect fan
From the center of the wheel came two black pedals
It was Sunday morning and we’d be heading to church
But first, a test ride on the driveway
With one hand on the parked car,
I steadied myself atop the unicycle
I knew all about balancing side to side
Years of bike-riding taught me that
But this required forward and backward balance as well
I pitched forward, overcompensated
Fell back, caught my balance before my backside could meet concrete
Slowly I got the feel of it
Leaning forward made me go faster
Back, slower
Cracks were more easily traveled with greater speed
The driveway’s dip to the road was the first true obstacle to master
After church and in the time that followed, I practiced
Eventually I could ride into the street
The next challenge was to turn a corner
Then more obstacles: hills, rocks, sand, looking up
The one obstacle that could never be mastered: unending endurance
The unicycle had no brakes
To stop pedaling meant to stop.