Fishing Boats and Basketball Hoops
by Sander Blome


Run an experiment,
carry some unusual inanimate object,
do so for two weeks,
like the guy who carried a shovel;
See something new,
sense something different altogether.
Fishing boats and basketball hoops
in a suburban Southwest Florida neighborhood
seem normal, especially on my own street
of three years. My new neon yellow tennis ball
worked. As always buckled in, and now trusting my elder
Patricia to drive, I watched the houses going by at 35 miles per hour
rather than the road and road signs. Patricia, my friend at the assisted living facility,
owns a Chevy two-door, good gas mileage, five years old.
Supporting the experiment she took her morning drive to Circle K for our smokes.
Watching the houses go by, two things recurred on the way there
and on the way back. Fishing boats and basketball hoops. I refused to see them
before. With a lit cigarette, my new neon yellow tennis ball, and Patricia,
I arrived home.






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