What Skims on Asphalt?
Knees do not.
What were we thinking
to play tackle football
in the middle of the street?
My neighborhood had no parks.
Soap bubbles do
for a while and
then descend
being tugged by gravity,
then pop.
Skateboards, hmm. skateboards.
That is a tricky one.
Asphalt is bumpier than sidewalks,
but in a good frame
of mind, it skims, yes, it skims.
Frisbees do.
When you throw it down
with all your strength
it hops two or three times
before sputtering to a dead stop.
Leaves do sometimes.
Ground wind raises them
and they glide like seagulls
touching breaking waves with
the tips of their wings.
What will you let skim
on the days that asphalt
enters your heart?
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Michael Shoemaker is a poet, haikuist, photographer, writer, editor and award-winning author from Magna, Utah. He is the author of book-length four poetry/photography collections, including Sky Mountain Rain Stars, a collection of short poems (Kelsay Books, forthcoming 2026.) His works are found in Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku, #1 Amazon bestseller new release (Haiku & Japanese Poetry), Petals of Haiku: An Anthology, Haiku Commentary, Haiku Commentary, Blue Lake Review, The High Window, Poetry Pacific and Chrysanthemum. He is a three-time nominee for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology awards (poetry and photography), and a 2026 Pushcart Prize nominee. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sacred-strains-of-praise-michael-shoemaker/1146835440; https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grasshoppers-in-the-field-michael-shoemaker/1145951505; https://michaelshoemaker.crevado.com/.
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Stone Poetry Quarterly 