Helium Kid in Space Mountain
I had the whole car to myself,
blazing to the bone, science fiction city,
screaming my head off through comets and cluster
and the 2-D doughnut that rolls around,
until, taking that last turn speeding down
through total black to hit a thousand white
explosions, my car jerked still,
all lights frozen and this pimply
employee with a flashlight and cap was saying
stay in your seat and no flashes when I knew another
car was speeding down the track to smash
mine if I didn’t say OK and get moving,
closing my eyes hard to bring on the black
and opening them again to the dark wind.
—Jack Skelley
—found in Poetry Loves Poetry: An Anthology of Los Angeles Poets (1985)