O ratty old kicks. O smelly ass shoes
reeking of wool socks & Florida summer.
O white laces browned like a Thanksgiving turkey.
O crease on the capped nose where the stone
wall kicked back. O charred black canvas, color
of an old dog’s paw, hazing mud & dust.
O bottom treads, the skateboard deck bloodied
you like a school bully wanting milk money.
O worn-in holes, gifting the pinprick kiss
of grass blades. O rubber gumball outsoles
that skidded on gym floors, scratched
against griptape, stamped on lime rock,
shuffled through April-colored beach sand,
grazed against the moonlit Bermuda grass
of golf courses in the late breathless night.