BLIND SIDE

Did you see the accident?
It must have been a bad one. The bike,
its front wheel ripped off, the rest –
you could still just see it was a woman’s bike –
flung across the road.
A beige and orange breakdown vehicle, its motor running,
and the usual chaos of police and ambulances.

A chemical smell of casualty
staining the bright dew-filled February morning.

She must have been zipping ahead as the lights changed
when the truck turned right, blindsiding her.
I was off to the park on my morning run but
the accident was an iron hand clamped round my heart,
a magnetic field yanking me back. Later,
to the man putting on his blades at the park entrance:
‘it’s no fun cycling in Amsterdam any more.’
His blank expression stops me in my tracks.
Another shouty idiot? He’s off and away.

From: ‘Early Morning’, Grey Suit Editions, London 2017