Bicycle Man Poem by Jim Boone

</>Working in the back
of a '50s cycle shop
a presence, eye to thigh
a coming together
from hand to mouth.

Why did he let those
who sought him out
talk that way
after they got up and off
leaving him in a position
to pray? Why? Because,
we can only control talk
that comes from our own mouths.

Bicycle man
peddled his Schwyn
all over town:
down alleys
up driveways
out to the old rock pit
paying lip-service
to many eager young men.

He listened to mocking voices
on the phone
shouts as he rode by
calling him all those
hate-full names
as for generations
'The town' preceded
those “queer”
isolating words.

1955