The Go-Cart (A Minnesota Poem, 1959)

Here in front of Old Rice SchoolPaul, Minnesota, Mike E. Siluk (my brother), had a
(underneath arc lights)the boys (the Cayugago-cart, he was the talk of the neighborhood for
Street Gang)wait like candles on an alter- half lit.that season, and perhaps well deserved. He had
We are bending over looking downwhile Mike andeveryone in envy, but he worked hard to acquire
his go-cart readythe world for light.the only co-cart (with his paper route money),
None of us noticed it then, theboy, girls...boozed,this side of the Mississippi I bet. And Old Rice
that twilight had sit:how funny, it was like aSchool, which was just up an old dirt alley from
festival-a square rigged cart of steel, witha motorour home, was a great place to have a go-around
on its back, made us hold ourbreath, hoping ourrunway for the go-cart. It seems nowadays,
turn would comenext, to ride and drive thisgo-carts are almost everywhere not anything
mad-mouse.special, perhaps times have changed, but 'the
And then your turn came-countingstopped,world in light' or setting the world for us in a spark
breathing regained-of light, hasn't change at least in memory and in
I mean, you were different now, youhad thethis poem I tried to recapture that moment-or
reins. I didn't care all thatmuch to drive and ride,perhaps better put, to recapture back that
that mad-mousearound and around, the school-butextraordinary feeling. Yes indeed, those were
moreso to be present, and feel the world in light.special days. Dedicated to Mike Siluk.
No: 2387 (5-23-2008) Note: back in 1959, in St.