my favorite flavor cherry red

there were soda fountains when i was a kid. they had little stools that spun around. we would watch as they put the crushed ice into a paper cone. then they filled it with flavors from little spigots with metal pumps that they pressed three times each with whatever combination we requested. it was great to get just want you wanted. the gratification a nickel bought back then was wonderful and fulfilling. everything shiny and sweet is not good for you though. it broke my heart to learn that lesson years later.

still here
on the edges
of my poems