by Jim Daniels
Got `em got `em got `em
don`t got `em
Got `em got`em
don`t got `em
The clear flick of the cards
as I flip through Doug’s doubles
cuts thick August heat, summer, 1968
in the dusty field behind his house.
Look what I found, you guys.
His little brother Matt shows us
A magazine called Swank
wrinkled up and dirty.
Nothing like that
in our rubber-banded stacks.
We make a deal with Matt
and he flips through our doubles
Got `em got `em don`t got `em
as we silently turn the worn pages
and our mouths get dry.
Jim Daniels is the Thomas Stockham Baker Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, where he has taught creative writing for 30 years.