Portside

Luchtfietser [Daydreamer]

By Robert Perry

My secondhand bicycle is stashed away

in the back of my cousin's garage

waiting for my return

 It calls to me like a noble steed

This magical bike that wants to take me

into town again, into the countryside and the city

turn me into a citizen of the realm

The land I admire—my teacher and my friend

who indulges me the impossible proposition

that I be considered one of them 

Ride down narrow streets against the wind

watch the trains of blue & yellow pass before me

shop at Ekoplaza, wander through the heather

I‘ve been told: autumn is what’s needed

to get through to the winter

Now it’s spring and I’m stuck indoors

I cannot return, not for a while

I’m not sure when

the world won’t let us travel

except in a daydream

cycling through the clouds

Making us into poets

drifting around the room

left to stare out the window all day

and sing through the night

After feeding the cat

I lie beside her

dreaming in the dark

I awaken to another day

and measure time

in tinctures of minutes

filling up the hours

I count the days that accumulate

into weeks, maybe even months

A pool of longing

brimming with expectation I try

to manage like medicine

into hopeful doses to be content

in my confinement

To no avail until I learn

how to keep my yearning in check

and let my attachments pedal

away into the ether

Robert Perry is a poet and translator, book artist and designer, and founder of Dutch Poet Press that publishes poetry and art books including translations of contemporary Dutch poetry. His work has appeared in literary journals and the anthology Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here (PM Press, 2012). He lives and works in Northern California. For more information, visit dutchpoetpress.com and robertperrybookdesign.com.

The Dutch version of Luchtfietser [Daydreamer] was published on the website Coronagedicht.nl in 2020 and in the anthology De overbuurvrouw is een meeuw by Uitgeverij Liverse in 2021.