and the man on the bus says,
If you get hit by one of those, you’re a goner.
You laugh and he tells me about the time
his motorbike got hit by a flatbed truck
and he did a 360 flip on to the ground.
A stranger asked him
if he wanted an ambulance but he said no
because he was delivering something
he thinks he probably shouldn’t tell me about
and he just had to get out of there.
The next morning, his legs were pins and needles.
He dragged his body like a slug
through the front door, down the porch steps,
on to his neighbours front yard
and he screamed until he was in hospital
for six weeks. He recommends I read
Geronimo’s biography because that guy knew
how to survive an onslaught.

© Carl Burkitt 2023