Go-Karts At Hornsea. (Speed 1957) Poem by stephen west

My mum said “You go steady”. My Dad said “Just take care.”
So I put my foot down to the floor and made the owner swear.

I whizzed around the twisty track, for sixpence, twice a day.
“You’re not suppose to corner on two wheels”, the man would say.

Across the fields on my friend’s farm I’d ride a great big Norton.
The throb, the race, the speed, the thrill, Like life - but more important.

Sixteen plus one day, I bought a Beezer, Super Rocket.
It cost me all the birthday money in my Wrangler pocket.

The guy said “Just go steady” as I wheeled her out the door.
I said, “If I wanted steady, I’d have an Ariel, Square Four.”

So I went through all the British bikes of every famous marque.
And then the Japanese arrived. More style, more bite, more bark.

I had my crash (not my fault) , in nineteen eighty three.
Mum waited more than twenty years to say, “I told you so” to me.