[the Writing of Kuypers][JanetKuypers.com][Bio][Poems][Prose]

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. I 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. U.S. Government Copyright Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers on all art and all writings on this site completed before 6/6/04. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission.