Photo by Shawn Henry
All my world I explore on well-oiled wheels of my skateboard,
I sail through now empty streets, wearing a mask,
I remember a day when crowds
along the Embarcadero applauded
my continuous handstand...
balanced on my rolling board
for blocks, I sped,
cool air from the Bay whisked around me.
Loud cheers, now silenced.
Then, before the now of closures,
all the crowds of the City were my audience,
Still, the landscape of the city is my playground:
from the fog rolling over the Golden Gate
to the sun rising behind the Bay Bridge,
no obstacle too dangerous:
tables and benches, stairs and railings,
warehouse platforms and round ball sculptures,
docks and playgrounds, I race,
jump, balance, flip. In my Facebook Film,
every trick was perfectly executed,
I slid down railings, landed with grace
and rolled on. Wheels clatter on sidewalks.
That is the edited version of my world.
Behind the scenes, the film is different.
Sometimes I fall, crash and burn,
I’m bruised and injured. Ice for my nose,
heat for my back. I must learn to
fall, to roll, to pick myself up
and try again. My board continues
to move and I continue to ride,
no matter the barrier,
I believe I will conquer.
Yes, I prefer the edited version
of my ride, where everything is
perfect, no falls or failures, no masks,
no closures, the rides uninterrupted by problems,
but without those “behind the scene” videos,
I would learn nothing.
The Author
Louise Moises was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, graduating from San Jose State with a major in Speech and Drama and minor in English. Over her seventy-five years, she has been a teacher, a storyteller, a puppeteer, a retail clerk, and the owner of an antiquarian bookstore, along with being a wife, mother, and grandmother. Now widowed, she enjoys traveling in her 23 foot RV with her cat, exploring places that inspire her writing.
Life is an ongoing adventure, she says. Her poems and stories have been recognized by the literary divisions of the San Mateo County and Marin County Fairs, the Ina Coolbrith Circle, Artists Embassy International, Bay Area Poets Coalition, and Keats Soul Making, and published by The Write Launch, Unlimited Literature, Benicia Herald, Frost Meadow Review & High Shelf Press.
Louise Moises