Breaking Away, Excel, and Solstice Yellow
By Mary Croy
Breaking away
The day began with a bike break down
front wheel flat, clack, clack, clack as I passed
the woman with the suitcase
breaking away-that was a movie I liked
or maybe I had a crush on Daniel Stern
and I loved cheering for cutters
those bad boys of the proletariat
I got air for the tires and was on my way,
fingers sticky from sautéed plastic
handlebars
the gears slipped
I startled swore as I glanced the seventh gear break into five
kept my balance
navigating Willy Street, not able to glance over my shoulder
at oncoming, hoping the idiot in the convertible
didn’t suddenly decide
to break in on my bike
Bakery surrounded by flowers
breaking bread with my cats
breaking our leisurely morning into pieces
struggling with a soggy sandwich
dredged in spice
Excel
We’ve all learned to live with uncertainty
yet we need to ignore it on the job
check the figures, does D2 match L2?
if not, you got a problem
If reality was a spreadsheet, we’d hop over the thin lines
take a look around
call for a function that could make us multiply
or divide this table into 1060 pixels
Yet we know or don’t
you can never quite place an atom whizzing around your room
measure the speed, but be uncertain of place
pin it down but lose the moment
The only certainty is that this piece of space spinning rainbows
this bouncing tumbling moment
has energy
Solstice Yellow
Yellow is the feel of peaches
skin fuzzing yielding
velour fruit
upended by the core reality
of a strong pit
Yellow is the scent of dandelions
and melted butter
it tastes sweetness and burn of whiskey
on a cold night
The sound of a hornet is yellow
scaring you out of a car
on your way home
The silent trickle of sunlight, at noon, on June 21st
yellow looks for its shadow

Mary E. Croy lives in Madison, Wisconsin where she works as an administrative assistant. She spent nine years teaching English Language Learners in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. During her free time, Mary likes reading poetry and hanging out with her cats, Buster and Gabby. Her work has appeared in Better than Starbucks, Woven Tale Press, and Valley Voices, among others.