Uniform

Once you fall in love with roller derby it's hard to not want to put the uniform on every day.  Most skatey ladies I know would if they had the time.  I've been skating now for seven years and every where I've visited we all wear the same thing; skates, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards, mouth guard, helmet, the need for speed and the indelible habit of getting back up when knocked down.  That last part of the uniform most of us wear for the rest of our lives, right along with whatever ink we had poked into our skin and scars we earned from getting broken and the friendships we forged from the shared frustrations of it all.

***

Roller Girl 

You're all elbow 
 And hip 
 And heart 

 A blur and a 
 Bruise 
 And a booty 
 Block into 
 Love's suicide 
 Seats. 

 By - T.L. Vaultonburg