Do it for Her

When I was five or six, my aunt Alice took me to a local women’s soccer match. I was too young to understand most of what was going on. Still, it was fun to watch the teams flick in patterns around the field, and I cheered when Alice cheered.

After the game ended, we went out to the turf so I could get my program autographed. The first player I approached was tall and dirt-streaked, with a stringy brown ponytail. She made me kneel down and placed the program on my back while she signed it. I can exactly remember the toothbrush-bristle prickle of grass beneath my knees, the noise of paper flattening onto my windbreaker, the pressure of the pen against my shoulder blades. She asked me my name, and I told her. She thanked me for coming to the game.

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Falling Lesson

Stitch up your skates. You must trust them

without thinking twice. Breathe in the stink

of your sweat-fried padding & give thanks

for the way it holds your bones intact.

Hit the rink. If your wheels strike the tile

with the clean sound of a well-greased cog

whirring in a machine, set your breath to it.

Ball your hands into fists. Once, Bunny fell

with her fingers out & they were smashed

like soft roots under another girl’s wheels.

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