[Black rubber slips]

[Buck]

Black rubber slips,
riding the torrent,
a bastion of power:
snapping trees,
inviting trepidation.

Clingy clothes slap,
air currents abuse
each flexing branch,
coarsely chastising
tenacious leaves.

Creaky bicycle never
expected the madness;
forest shows no mercy
until the storm abates.

Tempest recedes
and, for a brief,
fabric can breathe.
Drops fall from
flying chrome pedals.