Biking the Washington and Old Dominion Trail 
by Susan Notar 

Fast, and it’s windy and dusty. 
Sweat drips between her breasts. 
She clips her shoe onto the pedal 
and she’s melded to the bicycle 
as if to a lover. 
She pumps up hills 
whooshes down them. 

She thinks perhaps  
the more miles she rides 
on this chrome alloy frame 
with Shimano parts 
her calves clenching 
until she’s sinew 
this ache can be fixed 
as easily as a flat bicycle tire 
glue, a new tube, gush of air 
she’ll be alright again 
enjoying the smell of the pine copses 
seeing the startled deer leap 
into the underbrush as she passes by. 

Susan Notar is a poet living in Northern Virginia. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including Joys of the Table, an Anthology of Culinary Verse, Penumbra, and American Literary. She is a member of the Arlington Writer’s Group and the Poetry Society of Virginia. She works at the US State Department on war crimes issues in the Middle East. She has one tall son. “Biking the Washington and Old Dominion Trail” first appeared in NoVA Bards Anthology 2015: A Northern Virginia Poetry Anthology.

Written in Arlington / Spoken in Arlington is a print and digital collection of the poets and poems of Arlington, VA, edited by Katherine E. Young and published by Paycock Press (forthcoming, fall 2020). It is supported in part by Arlington County through the Arlington Cultural Affairs division of Arlington Economic Development and the Arlington Commission for the Arts. For more information, visit Arlington Arts.

Image: After the Rain mixed media/collage on canvas by Anya Getter (fragment)