ring toss

ring toss
1957

I’m eleven years old
crossing from Le Havre
to New York
on the Ile de France
elegant steamship
a delicious seven days
of rock and pitch

on the sports deck
a coal-black shepherd
launches
catches the ring midair— 
with a snap of his
head, flings it—
a cry of delight
as the silvery woman 
snags the red ring
slings it back
they know this routine

my yearning eyes
she invites me to greet him
he offers a paw
distinguished, so grave
I am taken