He rode the bike of twilight
when they met at dusk
She was blinded,
blissed
groomed in grooves
of him and rock’n’roll.
She was a bombshell,
feisty
but made pill complacent —
when he broke her will.
She selected him,
she wanted night
and let him trade
her flesh for gasoline and highs
of syringe sunshine
going west.
He pimped her, dumped her
somewhere far out west
and let her seek for deeper veins
with johns alone —
she needled deep to find her
needless grave, as he rode on
to find another teen.
Picture by Sue Judd, used with permission.
Today we write poems including the word groove with Lillian at dVerse. I also promised Sue to write something to her picture. Something I “saw” just outside the frame of that parked motorbike.
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December 12, 2017
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Yuk! There’s such a thing as writing TOO well, you know! J/k – but you do make this sad tale horrifyingly convincing.
Oo-er, you always come up with the dark side, Björn….depressing, but as ever a most descriptive write
I so hope that the owner of the motorbike was a better chap than that… but the fact that the license plate was unreadable made me think of crime.
The fault of the photographer….
A motorcycle vampire, perhaps. Dark and convincing, Bjorn!
Oh my. You weren’t kidding when you said you didn’t go the happy groovy route with this one. It is, though disturbing in content, very powerful. “Syringe sunshine” – what an amazing image that is. It belies the promise of brightness to the user….and then digs deep into the grooves of pain and brings the bottom of darkness.
An amazing write. To get “into the reader” with such visceral content and get an emotional response — shows the power of your words, Bjorn.
I agree, Lillian….
Sad story.
Yikes the pimping never ends for these poor innocent teens ~ She is a bombshell waiting to be broken in her spirit ~
Whatever the opposite is of a fairy tale;
Now this piece hums with darkness, brother; put me in mind of a Jim Morrison lyric. You had me at /bike of twilight/ Also the word smithing smacked of Bukowski and Kerouac–sweet, sad and definitely groovy.
I love it when you write from this place, in this voice.
“made pill complacent”
“She selected him,
she wanted night
and let him trade
her flesh for gasoline and highs
of syringe sunshine”
“He pimped her, dumped her”
Crazy good writing.
Grim! Well done
Maybe the bike will dump the creep…
A misspent youth with a sorry ending. What a shame she ended up drugged and dumped.
Gritty and real. Love this!
GAH. This is terrifying. “He rode the bike of twilight” is just fantastic.
Very well written as if you had lived it yourself! 🙂
I love story poems, and this is exceptional … dreadfully sad, but too often true. Inspired write, Bjorn!
Great ability to draw in the reader, especially with the stanza that begins “she selected him” which gives great specifics and lets the reader see through her eyes in it’s disjointed structure. Nice, Bjorn!
A well crafted ballad of reality and sadness!
Dwight
Nothing groovy about this cold-hearted drug-infested predatory murdering pimp! Well stitched.
Oh my…so descriptive and a deep groove too many fall into.
So many great images to make this dark story come to life.. sickening that this is still possible in this day and age. Very nicely written Bjorn.
wow, a dark novel in four stanzas, the images so clear I see movie scenes in my head
Excellent imagining of a dark scenario. I love how you can put yourself into their lives and then let the writing flow.
It made me think of a recent news story in the US, about an underage girl who was sent to jail for killing her pimp. So many small horrors all around us, but privilege keeps us from seeing them.
Very very dark. I cannot select a line it is just do well written as a whole and such horrifing tale
Much💖love
This is so terrifying… in its truth. Reading this one, I was almost wishing you weren’t so good at making your reader feel your words. *shivers*
Geez! I did not see that coming! Terrifying and sad that this is happening around the globe.
There is a fine art to telling a story in poetic form and this achieves much that prose fails to do as it labours over details of time and place. You set the mood quickly and hint at details of plot and character. It left me to wonder about the lives of these two people, and the countless like them in the world.
glad you wrote this. i remember when i was a teen — we were risk takers and blinded by dangerous bliss.
Very grim in its reality.
Anna :o]
Predators come in all shapes and sizes and genders. Its not about the prey. They are a means to an end. What happens to them what they feel means little.
Nice write. I could feel it coming subtly but good job on the reveal
she needled deep to find her
needless grave, as he rode on
to find another teen.
There were the many hustlers who preyed on the young one after the other. You said it so correctly Bjorn!
Hank
You had me with the first line and the inventive wordplay continued throughout. Wow!
Cheers,
Mark
My goodness this is terrifying! You had me at ” bike of twilight.”
Yikes! The first stanza sucked me in…and then that graphic turn. Oh, so well done.
That breaks my heart and makes me so angry. Too many get away with things like that
Very dark but I love it, and especially like the line, “she needled deep to find her needless grave” What a powerful and sadly true line Bjorn.
Some very compelling wordplay in this … bits of alliteration and chopped lines interspersed with long – to great effect, I think – creating a kind of broken ballad vibe, on which you’ve hung this ‘not a fairy tale’.
Definitely not a fairy tale. You are so good portraying the miserable and melancholy in beautiful words. Really like the needless-needled wordplay at the end.