A New Interest

I think of a match head being dragged across the glycerin path, and shaken out with a gesture. I'm probably way off!

That's a very good guess, stuh! Unfortunately, not what I had in mind. But still, very good. I'm impressed.

Hmm, not much interest in guessing, it seems, so I'll just post the answer.

This is a riddle poem describing the sport of curling. The sheet of ice "appears flat" but is actually treated in a special method called pebbling to make it rough and perform better. The scoring circle has a radius of twelve feet from the button ("twelve miles outside the city"). Brushes are used to create friction which melts the ice in front of the stone to either decrease is curl, but not brushing at all lets it curl a lot ("neutral"). The "collision" is one stone hitting the other, and the losing team concedes with a handshake. This sport was my "new interest" in early 2002 when the Winter Olympics started.

I suppose that changing "Drive twelve miles outside the city" to "Drive to twelve clicks outside the city" might have made it a little more clear.

I would never have guessed that one, smog!

I was thinking curling, but then, I'm Canadian.

I knew it all along. He he. Actually, I hadn't a clue. Curling's not much of a sport in southeast Texas.

Then you should have said something!

I loved this, Smog;-- its meaning was elusive, but its beauty was apparent. I'll think about it more, and come back...

You better not read the post where I give the answer, then.

Miles is alright...if you had said "clicks" i would have just thought of the military distance, or of sighting my tactical rifle scope...I would never have gotten it no matter what! But curling is an interesting sport. Ive played it on my lake in the winter with jugs of frozen water haha