DANIEL DORMAN

Art of Skateboarding


I.

Skateboarding is a manifesto

II.

"You're a skateboarder…

And, here I thought you
Were so noble"

III.

"And so they
Kick, push. Kick, push.
Over their shoulders
They swore
They'd never look."

IV.

And, I mean, I lifted
My first kick-flip
Into my gut,
You might not.

Just ride wild:
slam it, pop it,
grip it, flip it

Whatever

V.

I like the oozing flatland.
To push into the waves of
Drying rims of puddles,
Driveway slopes, gradients

To sweep around pebbles
And protruding Ohio bricks
Being quick at the edges

Of switch turns, twists,
Rhythmic, powerful
Sweeping momentum,
The surf of Ohio rising;

VI.

Approaching the hill's brink
I curve slowly, a careful lover,
Closing the distance between
My Malcolm X wheels
And the steep by which
They are yoked. And I drop

VII.

Brett Barnhouse and me
Kickin' 180 bonelesses
Off my neighbor's 3-Set.

Big Willie and me
Hittin' the streets under
Constellations of lights,
Buggin' out when the cops came.

VIII.

My quiet thoughts
Are carved with the zeal
Of concrete slabs and red bricks
Rolled under the real black
Of my polyurethane wheels;
I snake down the unsettled
And otherwise untrodden
Bedrock of my foundation.

Centrifugal Magnet


I've been attracted
to you

and've orbited your voice

but now, i utter,
i try to use words
that don't sound
so much like
images that don't look
so much like
                structure
                that doesn't stand out
                   so much like (i am

finding that feelings
like mine
belong in life lessons,
in spirituality and
in kisses

          that rupture
                                     the edges
                                     of my voice

          (quiet, quiet

-ly, I tell myself,
i can speak
loud)er
than talking like
looking like
appearing like

your love that left me
silent and wanting