To ride a camel

        To ride a camel
        is to smile and nod
        at the bedecked Bedouin
        and his equally bedecked beast:
       
You signal with a coin
        and he signals with a stick
        and the great beast bends his knees backwards
        settling to the ground in a most unsettling way.

        You reach up with your leg
            over the camel's steep back,
        and hurl yourself astride-

        Hold on, eyes blaring and nose blinking
                                       as the mountainous beast lunges forward                 

 then back 

                    and up 

                                            and all at once and you are higher
                    than any head
                    and your heart is pounding
                    pounding pounding
                    from the unexpected shift
                    that seemed more like a spill-

        And what's most frightening
is knowing that getting down
        will be exceptionally more disconcerting.
               

poem copyright ©2000 Anne Selden Annab