Illustration by Natalie Chiovitti (@artbynat) Cautions, curbs, and corners miguel dasilva Ed. shalomi ranasinghe Poem Cycle Alonso Flies In Melbourne Alonso’s McLaren fl ew in Melbourne He saw the sky then the ground Th en he saw the sky fl y and bounce Fernando’s front right to kiss Haas’ rear left Sprung sweet off the wall, airborne in Melbourne. Rubber swirls suspension breaks and engine fails Debris showers, gravel sprays, red fl ag waves Th e crowd holds its breath, Death forgot to watch the Australian Grand Prix. MIGUEL DASILVA Th e Wall of Champions Two inches of run off to launch two tyres Racers gamble on the Casino Straight To win speed through the course’s fi nal line Th e curb claims victims who eye the fi nish Five world champions caught on the chicane Jacques Villeneuve lost points in Ninety-Seven Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill crunched in Ninety-Nine Jenson Button’s understeer in Oh-Five Sebastian Vettel’s blunder in Eleven. Turn fourteen looms large in the driver’s minds— It whispers to the wheels as sirens do Magnets seduce the metal to the wall, A wall that only takes Th e Greats. 20 CAUTIONS, CURBS, AND CORNERS Racing Five seconds to race and twenty machines roar Twenty men prostrate engage launch control Steering wheels fl ash blue, then yellow, then red, upshift Blue, yellow, red, upshift , Late brake round fi rst corner Undercut and space invaders Tires lock and smoke lift s Eyes react to fl ashes Hands rock back and forth Cars now in traffi c avoid wrecks Accelerate through second straight Follow slipstream of lead car Two cars wide into third hairpin Horse overtakes bull on exit Lap one of seventy-six 21 MIGUEL DASILVA Seconds Formidable corners shave tenths, Distance measured in meters while cars travel by kilometers, Th e moment between crash and clear is invisible. Schumacher beat Raikkonen by six tenths. Senna saw his death six tenths ahead. Is six tenths enough time to scream? 22 .
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