Tell Me More Poetry by Nancy Duci Denofio

SELLING PROGRAMS -
SARATOGA RACE TRACK
1936


Your bike built like our
Studebaker, and that
was in 1936 –

You and your friend's rode
twenty eight miles through
woods, twisting roads
without lights, to camp out
at Saratoga Lake. . .
You and your friends sold
programs at the track.

You told me – men stood on
stools behind a box - yelled
odds – before each race, and
how fast they changed...
You told me – you made ten
cents on every program.
Was it worth the ride?

You slept in a forest
beneath tall pines on a cool
Saratoga night – near the
old casino where gangsters
played.

One night hard rain, storms -
came fast, and a policeman
asked, “Do you want a
place to sleep - tonight?”

You and your friends loaded
up those heavy bikes and took
the ride down Broadway.

You and your friend's were
housed inside a jail, on beds
where criminals slept.

You and your friend's were
safe one night in the middle
of an August storm.

When morning came the smell
of bacon frying - eggs, and
toast - you all watched the
guards pass and thought they
would bring you food.

“Do we get breakfast too?”
I know you had to smile,
and probably nudged your
friend's.

“Nope,” A policeman said,
“You and your friend's
were only overnight guests."

So they let you out, and
gave you back those old
bikes, built in 1936.

You and your friend's rode
off to the track. You rode
down Lake Avenue and took a
right on Regent, and another
left on Union Avenue to the
gate. You all strapped bikes
to pine trees, and began
yelling, “Programs, get
your programs here - ten cents.”

You told me many things but
I often wondered if Grandmother
knew what type of job you had
in 1936?

Nancy Duci Denofio
copyright all rights reserved