National Poetry Writing Month 2026, day 18: Black Diamond Lil

Black Diamond Lil

Unwinding her body

She nursed her hot toddy

At the bar of the Black Diamond Lodge.

I sat down beside her

And ordered hot cider

And said, “Hey there, Lil.” “What up, Rog?”

“I saw when you crashed.”

But she shrugged, unabashed,

And replied, “I was pushing myself

Cause I qualify Friday.”

And she grinned and glanced my way

And said “So do you. Ready?” “Top shelf.”

“Care to prove it there, Champ?”

So we went up the ramp

To the lift, and the Hard Mountain summit,

To the Suicide Trail,

Triple Black, makes you wail

At the push-off, a forty-foot plummet.

But she did it with ease

With those springs in her knees

That took G-force as if it were feathers,

And I struggled to match her

Through Devil’s Dispatcher

And its steep-mogul best-hold-your-breathers.

In the treacherous switchbacks

She yelled, “Bring it on, Bitch!!” –WHACK!

A low-hanging branch did a clothesline,

But she FLIPPED, landed clean,

And continued, serene

While I vowed I’d make Miss Twinkle-Toes mine,

Though I knew I would never

She’s so willful, so clever,

She will never be shanghaied nor owned,

But we’ll glide through the trails

Full wind in our sails

Swerving out-of-bounds, fearless, unzoned.