SKATING ON THIN ICE

Smack in the middle

of a lightening bolt

is where he wants to be.

It’s his raison-d’etre.

If it isn’t death defying,

it’s of no interest.

An unsmiling child,

he mastered the A B C’s

of risk-taking, skating

on thin ice at Lake Okoboji

to terrify his parents

and cheer himself up.

As a teen, he found beauty

behind the madness

of racing motorcycles.

Exhilarated by bruised

and broken bones,

parts of his body

scattered in the wind.

With the taste of blood

in his mouth, he plunged

into the jagged hazards

of stock car racing at Talladega.

He then became addicted

to the release of endorphins

by parachute jumping.

When the sky dive rush

was not enough, he signed up

for the U.S. Navy Seals.