high top white

the trick was

keeping your high top

white converse

sneakers,

chuck Taylor's white.

keeping them

clean

and new looking

for an entire 

summer

despite all the games

on the playground

and the street,

an occasional fight.

it was a nightly

ritual,

holding them up

to the light

with a scrub brush

and bleach.

then setting them

under your bed

for the next day.