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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing July 2023
I Saw The Light, poem by Allan Lake.
I Saw The Light
It’s 8am on a cold Melbourne morning
but the young woman who seems to be
running this tire shop is smiling, laughing,
kidding the guys who fix punctures,
install tires. And her joy is going viral.
The guys have downed their coffee, know
there is nowhere they’d rather be and be-
come men of action as soon as doors open.
She be an instant happy hive, this place.
One of my newish tires is losing air or
so my car is telling me and I arrived
early because warning light on dash
was designed to alarm. (!) Alarm.
Like the tire shop crew, that worrying
orange light appears to revel in its job.
Me? I’m feeling tired after flat tire
nightmares while my still-on-warranty
tires should be feeling more than okay.
Cost me the price of a flight to sunny
Sicily which was a bit deflating but
today horay : Quick fix / No charge!
A very small win but I drive home
feeling momentarily pumped.
© Allan Lake
Allan Lake, originally from Saskatoon, Canada, has lived in Vancouver, Cape Breton, Ibiza, Tasmania, W. Australia and Melbourne. Lake has won Lost Tower Publications (UK) Comp, Melbourne Spoken Word Poetry Festival & publication in New Philosopher. Latest poetry chapbook (Ginninderra Press) ‘My Photos of Sicily’. Literary journals in 17 countries have now published his poems.