Nancy Byrne Iannucci

Strangelove: June ‘89

- - - For Liu Heung Shing

I was still under the influence
of Depeche Mode’s ‘88
Music for the Masses tour,
blasting Strangelove,
trying to master Dave Gahan’s cyclone spin,
believing my blue
bedroom carpet was
“The Beach,”
Jones Beach Theater-
it didn’t quite work,
my spin sucked,
switching tapes to
A Question of Time
in a hopeful attempt
to try it again when
Erik & my brother
walk in-
Bones Brigade
was summoning all
Long Island skateboarders
to their demo at Danny’s Ride Away.
Tony Hawk and Ray Underhill
were there & there
Kerry met Ray-
their eyes fixed, bolted
like trucks to a deck, sitting
together on his board,
unaware of the spinning
noise of Chinese Ollies
above them.
Strangelove, Strange highs and strange lows
skipping like vinyl
in my head, boards pushing
through the lot unconscious
of how the Gorbachev Factor
had lightened the air
they breathe.
Strangelove, Strange highs and strange lows
turning for a couple in China,
spinning their way around
Tiananmen Square,
conscious of how the
Gorbachev Factor
had thickened the air
they breathe
with hazardous hope,
waiting,
sitting together on a bicycle,
she is holding him
like Kerry held Ray,
except the spinning noise
they hear is not the wheels
of Powell & Peralta but of
Chinese tanks vibrating above.