Bike Rides to the Ocean

A cento composed of lines from the songs by the Canadian band Hey Ocean!

The basket on my bicycle is hanging low.
It’s filled with strange things you said.
We took a trail down to the beach.
You drew a map so we’d remember
where we sat waiting for our spirit animals.
We never once saw yours.
Every familiar thing we once knew disappeared:
we’d come this far
to start again or fall apart.
So scared of second chances
we both knew it was time.
Didn’t mean to, but words slipped right through
and tossed you like a stone into the ocean.
I don’t deserve all that I receive.
On my bicycle, I’m moving slow.

Sharif Shakhshir is a Californian poet of Palestinian and Mexican descent. He’s studied creative writing at UC Irvine and USC. His poetry appears in The Anthology of Writing that Risks, West Wind, and Razor House Magazine. His favorite animal is the unicorn.
*Image courtesy of Library of Congress.
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