Lay for the Day 30th May

1896: the first automobile accident on record occurs in New York City, when a car hits a cyclist, a Miss Thoma, breaking her leg.

Bump

In a crashing
waltz time, two cars
clutch each other –
crunching embrace,

shower of glass –
then limp apart.
One in the wrong
grows as it drifts

from the shock an
anemone,
waving idly,
of hands and hair.

She gets out, high
on shot nerves. “I
saw the light. I
just passed my test.”

John Gibbens
from Characters: You & I

 

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