Tin Cans Dancing Poem by Kim Barney

The things we did for
entertainment back
in the old days!

I remember...
three young boys riding
on a hay wagon being
pulled by a tractor driven
by their father
on a bumpy dirt road on
the way to the hay field.

My two brothers and I
were amusing ourselves
by jumping off when
we would see a tin can
by the side of the road.

We would jump off,
grab the can, and toss
it up on the wagon.

The cans would bounce
merrily around and
we tried to see how
many we could get
on the wagon before
we arrived at the field
and had to get to work.

We had no trouble
catching up to the wagon
and jumping back on.

Once my youngest brother
saw a can on the other
side of the road. He jumped
off and ran across and
came within inches of
being hit by a car coming
from the opposite direction.

He got a scolding from
his two brothers for not
looking first, and I don't
think we collected
any more cans that day.