Royal Enfield
I wish, when I go to Goa, I could see my father
riding a Thunderbird down the dusty streets
chasing the final adventure. He might drive right past me,
enthralled with his midnight machinery,
the carburettor chugging, recalling to him the gradient
of the Pennine roads, reminding him of the thrill of push-biking
over the Snake Pass, swaggering, deviating down the diagonal,
clinging onto his two wheels for dear life.
Dad. You made it through those dangerous days,
though if we are to believe in the multiverse,
many of your parallel selves would not be so lucky.
In one of those alternatives, you’re still here, you’re still there,
sputtering up the coast, avoiding the feral dogs.
and I spot you, gobsmacked, dropping my bottle of coke.
Jude Cowan Montague worked for Reuters Television Archive for ten years. She produces The News Agents on Resonance 104.4 FM. Her most recent album is Hammond Hits (Linear Obsessional, 2018).