walking home from school
once when I was little
I was walking home from school
filled with fear, like I always was
the other kids made fun of me
they called me names
sometimes they threw rocks at me
once they pushed me to the ground
went home, bleeding knees and tears
but once, I’ll never forget, Patti
from 121st street was
walking behind me and threw
her gym shoes at me
they landed right next to me
as I was walking down
that first big hill
I don’t know if I stopped
but I remember for a brief moment
looking up at the tall tree branches
next to the road
all the entangled dead branches
and I thought
that all I had to do
was pick up her shoes
and throw them
as hard as I could
and she would never
get her shoes back
I looked at the trees
for only a moment
and I continued walking
as fast as I could
as I always did
and suddenly the shoes
were long behind me
and the others were laughing
I look back now
and wonder why I didn’t
do it
was I scared of them
was I scared of myself
I still keep asking myself that
Copyright Janet Kuypers.
All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.
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