(after William Carlos Williams’ “The Dance”)

(for Donna Gail)

Brightly colored gumballs fill glass-globed
dispensers that bring me to stand again
with my little sister before a row of primary
color temptations. Which one should receive our
precious pennies? What if we get a color we don’t like?
(Definitely not black!) Here we learn that,
even when not given a choice, sweetness
will appear with the simple turn of a knob,
the lift of a magical chrome door, allowing
a surprise to roll into our cupped palms.