Friday, November 6, 2020

For Anna

 I learned to ride a bike when I was five and invincible

I could not scrape my knees

For all I knew if I launched my bike off a cliff I would fly off into the middle distance


The summer I learned to ride a bike, my dad tried to teach me physics

Or maybe he was just messing with his five-year-old child because he had nothing else to do that particular Saturday morning. 

(Hindsight's murkier with time)

He told me that the outside of the wheel had to move much further each time the wheel spun than the inside of the wheel

How come the outside wasn’t moving faster than the inside?

How did they stay together? 


Five-year-olds who think they can fly aren’t always experts

But I still wonder

What is the miracle that keeps up together?


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