Poem of the Day: “Alpine Coaster” by John C. Mannone, Frequent Contributor and Poet of the Week

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Alpine Coaster” by John C. Mannone, a Songs of Eretz Frequent Contributor and this week’s Poet of the Week.  A biography of the poet may be found in the “About Our Editor & Frequent Contributors” section.

Alpine Coaster

John C. Mannone

In a body-molded skateboard

on rails, I prayed while ratcheted

up the mountainside, naked

to the wind with scent of smoky

mountain pine. I fidgeted

and quivered, imagined the wild

white-tailed deer and black bear

wondering what the hell

I was doing up here, me too.

At the top of the hill, a sign

said push the lever forward

to disengage the brakes. I fell

as gravity pulled. I heard it

laughing in between fervent

curses & prayers. For a moment,

I thought about jumping

into the physics of this

monstrous erector set, the forces:

rail to car, car to body, body to

heart racing faster than any coaster.

I questioned the construction

after every rattle and scrape

in the spiraling down. Whoosh

of prayers out-flying wind,

my throat now too sore

to yell anymore. In the end

when a grappling chain

arrested my fall, my heart

released to beat normal again.

And I prepared for the darkness

when I’d ride the coaster again.

Poet’s Notes: Recently my friend convinced me to ride he Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster in Pigeon Forge, TN. I’m not one who is normally a sissy when it comes to rides, but there was something ominous about this one. The feeling of vulnerability, and aloneness (passengers would ride alone or with another; the cars were separated at least by 80 feet (much more in my case because of some delays I was created). The 5-minute ratcheting to the top gave me plenty of time to build anxiety. I wanted to capture that feeling in this poem. I took advantage of numerous powerful line breaks to portray that tension. It was a great ride, so much so I did it again… at night. The lines were as long then, too (close to an hour wait).