I get to race
I get to run

Three times
Around the
Oval cross

Five of us
On a
Hard packed
Dirt track

Coursing hounds
Chasing time

First lap
Speed to burn
Records to set

Second lap
Stretch it out
Take the lead

Third lap
Legs dead
Lungs afire

Nothing left
On empty
Falling across
The finish line

Snot and spit
Covered face
Lips peeled back

Eyes rolled up
Gasping to death

The most beautiful
I have ever been

—

Frederick K. Foote, Jr. was born in Sacramento, California and educated in Vienna, Virginia and northern California. He started writing short stories and poetry in 2013.

He has published numerous stories and poems and will have a collection of his short stories published this year by Blue Nile Press.