My Private Wobegon

stories from home

Sneakers on a Wire
By Partho Roy

Fly high, Sneakers on a Wire—
I salute you.
Who first cast you up on that line,

knowing not what he had abandoned?
Yet nobly you’ve dangled ever since.
How faithfully you’ve hung,

high above the pavement strung,
weathering hot days and gloomy nights
all through the fickle spring,

the torrents of summer showers,
the colorful darts of autumn,
and winter’s arctic chill.

Sway proudly, old shoes!
Balk at the wind laboring to bully you
down from your long-standing perch.

Never enslave yourself to gravity;
for you’ve spent too many years,
suspended in your bird’s eye glory,

to give in now to Nature’s force.
Go on tempting the lightning,
dodging the birds’ droppings,

and shooing the flies and hornets
who swarm around your fuzzy portals,
looking to make you theirs alone.

Who can know what old stories you hold,
caked upon your muddied soles,
and what strange funk you harbor inside

that plush and dank interior realm
below the scuffed leather of your skin
and the worn rubber of your heels?

So fly high, Sneakers on a Wire,
you’ll forever be my neighborhood flag,
my symbol of endurance.

Partho Roy
Partho Roy is a twenty-five year old graduate student in the Program in Biomedical Ethics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The son of Indian immigrants, he was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and attended college in Gainesville. A lifetime student who plans a career in medicine, Partho likes to spend his free time writing short stories, opinion pieces, poetry, and classical music.

In 2000, Partho was the Grand Prize winner of the "Bachstravaganza!" limerick contest given by WETA-FM (NPR) in Washington, DC. He has written numerous book reviews on Amazon.com, and his letters, articles, and artwork have appeared recently in The Baltimore Sun, The Cantonsville Times, The Baltimore City Paper, and The View from Catonsville. He can be reached by email at parthor@yahoo.com.