1

Our original tin toy 

was a can of “Carnation” or “Darigold”

stripped of the label and

outfitted with wheels made from

soda pop caps.

 

Two holes were punched on each 

side of the tin cylinder, one forward, 

one behind, and a coconut midrib

passed between and on each tip,

pierced in the middle as well,

 

the soda pop caps.

Then we had a clanking 

pull toy—it could be a Berlina,

a Chevy, or a Studebaker,

depending on what you knew

 

from magazines with pictures

of shiny cars and pretty 

houses presented by smiling

curly-haired blondes with red lips

and gleaming white teeth.

 

Otherwise it was simply

laruang lata clattering

behind you on the dirt path,

in a neighborhood that was not 

America.

​

​

​