Skiing In Literature: Knees

A Street Poet In Denver Writes An Impromptu Poem For SeniorsSkiing.com.

[Editor Note: SeniorsSkiing.com’s publishers visited the Outdoor Retailers/Snowsports Industries America Show in Denver last week.  Walking down 14th Street, we noticed a small hut lit by a lantern. Inside was a young man—D. M. Kingsford— sitting with a typewriter and a sign that said, “Pick A Topic, Get A Poem”. Our topic was “Senior Skiers”. Here’s the poem he tapped out in about two minutes:]

Knees

By D.Michael Kingsford

Velocity doesn’t think in

Years, doesn’t

Edge towards stopping because

Decades have been stacked,

And snow

Is blind to

The candles perched solemn as a new

Bride the second time

Around:

You might ski

Thinking about wear and tear,

You might slope, but the

Mountain won’t mind:

You’re old enough to remember

Torn ACL’s and

Broken bones, but speed

And gravity

Have no memory for such things.

Breathe, and forget your age

Breathe

And count your age

In trees, whizzing by, instead of years.