Poetry
published by Retort Magazine, on March 4th, 2010Speedway
Penzoil /Quaker State/STP/Yokohama, Michelin, Firestone/the spit and
detonation/a weird petroleum rodeo/out in the barren paddocks, skin drying
sheds/the full moon dissolving in the clouded blue like a pill into water only to
reappear golden and whole/vicious twisted scrap and the raw exhilaration/mufflers
farting like shotguns/boiling radiators and steaming tires/the wild revving/Cougar
Martin laying it down on the backstretch just for the love of it/spraying hot dirt
exhaust pipes backfiring flame/clouds of dust and oilsmoke/bikes, sidecars, street rods
and the “Thundering Sprintcars”/lots of men in overalls, pickups flashing their lights,
tow trucks, a grader and a watering truck to keep the choking dust down/the PA
system misses every other word/foot-long hot dogs bloody with ketchup and slick
bags of fat jam-filled doughnuts, buckets of grease wet French fries and cigarettes
ground underfoot/the hardcore regulars wearing protective earmuffs/skintight
jeans, leather jackets, John Deere caps, tank tops, Levi jackets, permed hair and
painted nails/Women’s Auxiliary Raffle—sheepskin seat covers, electric frying pan
a few engine fires suffocated by hand-held fire extinguishers/drab tartan blankets and
shiny thermoses of thin black coffee/500 cc single gear bikes, the rider in the pole
position always winning/Monster Trucks climbing a mountain of cinderblocks/a far
groan from the prestige of Formula 1 racing, with sudden close-ups of gorgeous Italian
women wearing next to nothing/Valvoline and nicotine/and then
some guy named Big Dog Horton steps out zipping up
from the Porta Pottie and says to his brother who’s disappeared for a beer
“Next time we do the Suicide Derby, I want to have a lot more metal around me.
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© Kris Saknussemm 2010
KRIS SAKNUSSEMM is the author of the cult novels Zanesville and Private Midnight. His third book, Enigmatic Pilot will be published by Random House in 2011.
