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.
