You take a playing card and steal
a clothes pin from the hanging bag
on the green line in the back yard.

The jack of spades looks best, you feel,
against the spokes of your old bike
and adds a clatter as you ride.

Behind you flies a pirate flag,
a decal shows the team you like
upon the bumper: the White Sox!

The squeegee horn is close at hand.
The noises really help the bike
since Dad has never fixed the brakes!

– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Oct. 6, 2014