Flying Saucers

I didn't have a Frisbee 

in 1963.

They were still called

the Pluto Platter.

and not well known.

But I liked to sling the lids

of Folgers Coffee cans,

being careful

not to slice a finger

on the edge.

One day I sailed one

across the street.

Just as a kid

from up the block

rode by on his Schwinn.

He had a flat top haircut

stiffened up with butchwax.

The lid skimmed 

right across his hair

and landed on

the fighter jet captain's lawn

across the street.

The kid never saw it coming.

Just ran his hand across his hair

as if he'd been buzz bombed

by a sparrow.

Three years later I was earning

a couple dollars a week cutting lawns.