Poem Selection: The Run

The Run

4/8/2011

By Jasminum McMullen

I’d say I came off the blocks, but there were no blocks there.

I’d say there were trees and manicured grass everywhere, but it wasn’t there.

I’d say I laced my shoes before the gun went BOOM!

But there were no shoes to lace and no gun to go boom.

I’d say there were tracks lined with chalk that I was on my mark,

Or that the sun was at its highest but there was only dark.

I’d say the pattered sound of my feet quickened with my breath, that I pumped my arms

With every step, yet there was no ground to echo each step.

The sound of my efforts absorbed into black.

No one in front of me,

And no one in back.

I’d say I had the heart of Pheidippides when the battle was won,

Carrying with me a message that legend is birthed from.

I am what has yet to be told

The marathon I run,

I run alone.

With motivation and determination in pursuit of my goals,

I run.