The Motorcycle Queen
for Bessie Stringfield
You said you took God with you to all 48 states.
You caroled your grief on an Indian Scout,
rode your Harley until the crowd forgot it was a motorcycle,
saw a stallion riding the track wall,
breaking for a field’s freedom.
You wanted a story you could tell
about surviving America on two wheels,
six years too early for the Green Book.
But I understand leaving.
I’ve been looking
to see the world.
Copyright © 2020 Tyree Daye. From Cardinal (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). Used with permission of the author and Copper Canyon Press (coppercanyonpress.org)
Tyree Daye
Tyree Daye was raised in Youngsville, North Carolina. He is the author of the poetry collections a little bump in the earth (Copper Canyon Press, 2024); Cardinal (Copper Canyon Press, 2020); and River Hymns (American Poetry Review, 2017), the winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize.
A Cave Canem Fellow and a Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellow, Daye is the recipient of a Whiting Writers Award and was a finalist for the Kate Tufts Award.