They have been at it long enough
to be spaced out all around a city block,
their school on a knoll above them,
light from its windows glancing down.
The fastest are far out in front,
all boys, their chests thrust out,
calling a few words back and forth,
while those in the scattered middle,
flushed and staring fixedly ahead,
slap at the path with heavy shoes.
And a good ten yards behind the next
to last, a girl of maybe eight or nine
has dropped back into a walk, panting
for breath but, with exaggeration,
swinging her arms as if to appear
to be just one among the others.
Ted Kooser served two terms as the U.S. poet laureate from 2004 to 2006, and during his second term he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his collection “Delights & Shadows” (Copper Canyon Press). His third children’s book, “The Bell in the Bridge,” was published in May by Candlewick Press.
