To Be Wild
fire all your guns at once, explode into space…from Born To be Wild (Steppenwolf)
sometimes all I want is
to ride
pillion on a
Harley-Davidson Sportster
with a shirtless Chris
Hemsworth along the Great
Ocean Road, tightening my thighs
on those dangerous corners, stopping
at secluded beaches for swimming
in Speedos, then watching
the sun go down at Port Campbell
between his muscular thighs,
him riding pillion
home in the dark so I can
feel his three-day stubble
rasp the back of my neck
John Bartlett is the author of eight books -fiction, non-fiction and poetry. In 2019 his first Chapbook The Arms of Men was published and Songs of the Godforsaken in June 2020. Awake at 3am, his full collection, was released by Ginninderra Press. He was the winner of the 2020 Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize. He reviews and podcasts at beyondtheestuary.com Twitter: @beyond_estuary
