I Used to Build Bicycles

gears and chains

and forks, pedals

and little clip devices

thin rubber tires

thirty-six spokes

front and back

more on the tandems,

but who really buys

those, anyway?

I had a shop

on a side street

in Earle, Arkansas,

between the bait shop

lean-to and a oily

garage where my uncle

rebuilt John Deeres

making that “pop-pop” sound.

Most of my days

in solitude, closing up

on perfect days

to ride by endless

cotton fields of my mind.