Sister Sports

Canoeing on land,
we came to call it.
Post war, the traffic
building daily
exponentially,
the "quiet" roads choked;
cyclists in their droves
turning to the river
for the peace we craved.


Canoe and cycle,
road and waterway
appealed to the same
folk, more or less;
had much in common:
the primacy of
balance; the tyre's hiss
as mesmerising as
the splash of paddle.


Life's slower pace and
learning how to read:
maps, water, weather;
closeness to each other,
to water or the road -
and more so to the
natural world. But
even better, both
sports offered racing.

The Poetry Jam challenge for this week week is to write a poem on a favourite sport.