Hanging Sneakers

Several years ago the BBC News broadcasted a report on the 'Mystery of NYC's Hanging Sneakers'. The sight of laced Adidas sneakers draped over telephone wires had befuddled the British and their research came up with several plausible reasons for the phenomena. One social worker attributed the occurrence to a sign of gangs. If you were not of the gang then the members would beat up the intruder to their neighborhood and throw his sneakers over the telephone wires as a sign of disrespect. A Harlem resident commented that kids hung the sneakers to commemorate a dead friend, while another pointed out that the sneakers were a sign that drugs were sold in that neighborhood. A street baller explained that the hanging sneakers were a sign of respect to their sneakers and I agree with his explanation for I had thrown several pairs of Adidas over the traffic lights at the intersection of East 10th Street and Avenue A across from the basketball courts of Tompkins Square Park.

I only chucked them up there once they were worn to the threads.

Every time I saw them, I thought about having playing in them. The losses and the wins.

Hanging sneakers are an honor to sneakers.

And it ain't easy getting them to get up there.

The NYPD certainly don't like it, then again pigs don't like nothing.