my lovers teeth are white geese flying above me my lovers muscles are rope ladders under my hands
we were driving home slow my lover and I, across the long Bay Bridge, one February midnight, when midway over in the far left lane, I saw a strange scene:
one small young man standing by the rail, and in the lane itself, parked straight across as if it could stop anything, a large young man upon a stalled motorcycle, perfectly relaxed as if he'd stopped at a hamburger stand; he was wearing a peacoat and levis, and he had his head back, roaring, you could almost hear the laugh, it was so real. "Look at that fool," I said, "in the middle of the bridge like that," a very womanly remark.
Then we heard the meaning of the noise of metal on a concrete bridge at 50 miles an hour, and the far left lane filled up with a big car that had a motorcycle jammed on its front bumper, like the whole thing would explode; the friction sparks shot up bright orange for many feet into the air, and the racket still sets my teeth on edge.
When the car stopped we stopped parallel and Wendy headed for the callbox while I ducked across those 6 lanes like a mouse in the bowling alley. "Are you hurt?" I said, the middle-aged driver had the greyest black face, "I couldn't stop, I couldn't stop, what happened?"
Then I remembered. "Somebody, " I said, "was on the motorcycle." I ran back, one block? two blocks? The space for walking on the bridge is maybe 18 inches, whoever engineered this arrogance. in the dark stiff wind it seemed I would be pushed over the rail, would fall down screaming onto the hard surface of the bay, but I did not, I found the tall young man who thought he owned the bridge, now lying on his stomach, head cradled in his broken arm.
He had glasses on, but somewhere he had lost most of his levis, where were they? And his shoes. Two short cuts on his buttocks, that was the only mark except his thin white seminal tubes were all strung out behind; no child left in him; and he looked asleep.
I plucked wildly at his wrist, then put it down; there were two long haired women holding back the traffic just behind me with their bare hand, the machines came down like mad bulls, I was scared, much more than usual, I felt easily squished like the earthworms crawling on a busy sidewalk after the rain; I wanted to leave. And met the driver, walking back.
"The guy is dead." I gripped his hand, the wind was going to blow us off the bridge.
"Oh my God" he said, "haven't I had enough trouble in my life?" He raised his head, and for a second was enraged and yelling, at the top of the bridge "I was just driving home!" His head fell down. "My God, and now I've killed somebody."
I looked down at my own peacoat and levis, then over at the dead man's friend, who was bawling and blubbering, what they would call hysteria in a woman. "It isn't possible" he wailed, but it was possible, it was indeed, accomplished and unfeeling, snoring in its peacoat, and without its levis on.
He died laughing: that's a fact.
I had a woman waiting for me, in her car and in the middle of the bridge, I'm frightened, I said. I'm afraid, he said, stay with me, please don't go, stay with me, be my witness "No," I said, "I'll be your witness later," and I took his name and number, "but I can't stay with you, I'm too frightened of the bridge, besides I have a woman waiting and no license and no tail lights " So I left as I have left so many of my lovers.