When Biking
I bring up
the rear
where my view
is clear:
just behind
his butt
the knapsack
badly bungeed
to his rack.
I watch
it slide
to one side,
grow more
and more
askew,
straps teasing
the spokes
as if dying
to go through.
At the light
I say please
tuck in
your straps.
Overcautious?
Perhaps.
He scoffs
as he tucks,
saying
it’s never
happened yet.
Could it?
You bet.
Michele Herman’s novel Save the Village was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Prize, and she’s published two chapbooks: Victory Boulevard and Just Another Jack. She’s the recipient of multiple writing awards, including the 2024 Subnivean Journal’s Fiction Prize and the 2018 Best Column Award from the New York Press Association. Her work has appeared in fancy places like Carve, Ploughshares, The Hudson Review, The Sun, and LitHub. She’s a developmental editor and a devoted memoir teacher at The Writers Studio, and a regular contributor to the new Greenwich Village monthly newspaper The Village Star-Revue. She has an essay in the winter 2025 issue of Mukoli: The Magazine for Peace.