How to kill a classic

[Keith]

All it takes is one blast
around the block.
Small hands grip the cool metal               wondered about "small hands".. teens would have pretty adult-sized hands..
of the Bonnevilles blue and white.
Dad keeping you safe
with his James Dean cigarette.                 love this surreal connection.     there´s a lot in this line about admiration, false sense of security and maybe something else you wanted to be understood

Something starts with that rush of air,          i like how the rush is taken up 4 lines later again.
oil moves beneath the bearing,
each racing line scrubbed and skutched,    "skutched" was a difficult word for me.. is it testing limits?
the mad mile of adrenaline.

All it takes is ten pints                                 
and a girlfriend away at uni.            
A fight over fruit bowl keys                      
at two in the morning,
when good ideas
only get as far the first corner.               


i get a scene (cool motorcycles, drunken driving, accident) and a sad point (from my subjective view),
 but probably by far not all that is said in your poem. especially the fruit bowl seems to imply something i can´t sort in.

Thanks Vaga good feedback all can be used for the edit, the hands are small because the rider was being taken for a ride and was only small, but I see why this isnt working so thanks for all the pointers, I like the concept here so I want to keep that but this maty need more than a touch up. Best Keith

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Hi Keith

S1
The opening is a bit misleading.
Agree with vagabond about 'small hands'
Of the 'blue and white' what?
Like the play of 'safe' and 'cigarette'.

S2
No real change in rhythm, where's the speed?
'Something starts' - what does?
'mad mile of...' - nice line

S3.
'fruit bowl key' has a 70s wife swap feel.
nice ending.


It all seems a bit flat. Not much energy, no sensations.
Arguably, as it stands, you could cut it down to the final stanza
and not lose much. Though the question of whether the rider
survives remains.


Best, Knot

Solid feedback as always Knots, thank you for sorting the wheat from the chaff and your honesty, I cant disagree with any of your comments, didnt see the fruit bowl that way but youre spot on, we just kept our keys in the fruit bowl. I want more from this than a short although I agree it could work that way, need to think and come back to it in a rewrite me thinks. Thanks for the help. Keith