SUBMIT
UPCOMING ISSUES
PUBLISHING TIPS
SUBSCRIBE
RENEW
CHANGE ADDRESS
ABOUT CV2
WHERE TO BUY
CONTACT
MASTHEAD
DONORS
PRIVACY POLICY
AD RATES
HOME
CURRENT ISSUE
BACK ISSUES
ORDER INFO
CONTESTS
ANNIVERSARY CONTEST
2-DAY CONTEST
WINNERS
AWARDS
WE'RE 35!
RESOURCES
EVENTS
Kerry Ryan - Playground
All those awkward years
you didn’t realize you were training:
Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
clapped fast, fast, faster
to the recess bell
Automatic hip-flick, palm-sting
like flat leather slap on hand pad
until your fists blur,
whip-sharp, hard
Not the school wall
but your partner’s gut
that catches a medicine ball
She heaves it back at you,
shoves air out of lungs
Pink plastic double-dutch,
little girl nonsense songs
drowned now by heavy metal
as you slice air
into rope bites
thin as ticks of stopwatch
Keep up with the latest in poetry with our special subscription rate. $35 gets you 8 issues (
45% off
).
Subscribe
or
renew
now to get this offer.