limping off

Where exactly did it all go wrong,
Carving into the corner, but suddenly stalling,
Did I try to try to hang on for too long,
Instead of carving, flipped through the air falling.
I had dropped in on the bank, went up the box,
Down the other side, onto the flat just cruising,
Checking myself after, I saw blood on my socks,
Checked my elbow my knee, saw both bruising.
I had rolled slowly over the flat, perhaps too slow,
But then I pumped and floated into the corner,
Riding goofy-foot, front-side carve to body blow,
Foot-slipped, board stalled, the latter or the former?
Which to blame- me, the board, or all the above,
Body twisted and spun, landed on my left side,
No pads except hands were Triple-8 anti-gloved,
Landing on the left, the laws of physics defied.
Spun me like a top, was I too low, too high,
Not at all like the dozen or so previous runs,
Scraped my hip, pulled something in my thigh,
Shot my fish board right at some young guns.
“You alright?”, “You o.k.?”, ask members of the crew,
“Yep, sure, no problem.” I lie as I dust myself off,
Old man me, looking all grim in front of the new school,
Trying to be tough, not wanting them to think I’m soft.
I chase down my board, walk back up the bank,
Roll right back in, hit the same exact spot,
My groin muscle screamed, my heart sank,
I can deal with some pain, but not a lot.
After a few more runs, I hang it up for the day,
Slamming sucks, but I really shouldn’t complain,
Pain reminds you that you’re alive, so they say,
I’m just glad to be skating, glad there’s no rain.
Can’t think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve,
On my lunch break, while working a sixteen,
Blood soaking through my shirt, I pull up the sleeve,
Happily limping off, til the next time I fiend.