Spun and Shaken
Yesterday I was spun,
Shaken, jostled, wrenched,
Shot up, dropped down,
Hurtled, whirled,
Swerved, shuddered
And endured.
Yesterday I diced with dangerous death.
Yesterday I lay flat like superman
And zoomed through space;
I was splayed across a motorbike
And accelerated towards a bend;
I was strapped in to a car
Slowly dragged to a height
And plunged through twists, turns,
Bends and hills.
Yesterday I was rocketed into the air
And dropped to the ground.
Yesterday my feet dangled free
While I was whirled upside down.
Yesterday I caught my breath
As I careered into space
And faced my doom.
I had my cochlea tested,
My otoliths put through their paces
And my stomach taken to its limits.
I clung on for dear life.
Yesterday my body was flooded with adrenaline.
If the British Space Agency or NASA phones
I am ready.
I am ready to be blasted off into space
To delight in weightlessness,
To be propelled through space,
To endure the rigours of re-entry.
I have been fully tested.
Opher – 23.4.2019
Yes, yesterday I took my grandchildren to a fun park where we tested the safety limits of engineering, for fun. We suffered G forces that were unimaginable, hung suspended, refrained from screaming and held our hands up while we did it.
Supposedly, we did it for fun.
What we really did was to experience the euphoria of having faced down our fears and survived.
We told ourselves we’d do it again and again – ever seeking a greater thrill.
We took each other that it was nothing, that we wanted a far greater thrill than this. We wanted faster, tighter, higher, further and more. We compared the canny designs that created the forces that played upon our bodies and minds – acceleration, G forces and gravity cavorted together for our pleasure.
Yesterday we taunted death, safely.