Poem
Claudia Emerson
Physical Education
Physical Education
Physical Education
The coach has grown larger with each decadeuntil, wrestler-fat, she travels to the hockey field
in a golf cart rattled with whistles, rackets,
sticks, and cleats. From behind the wheel, she metes out
laps like lashes, and terrified, they circle
the school the way water, not yet furious,
trains around an impatient drain: run –
run – you girls, you stupid, stupid girls.
© 2007, Claudia Emerson
‘Environmental Awareness: The Right Whale’, ‘What They Are Missing’, ‘Physical Education’ and ‘Reunion Weekend’ are from a sequence entitled ‘All Girls School’. The epigraphs are from the chapter ‘The Seclusion of Girls at Puberty’ in The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion by Sir George Frazer.
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Poems of Claudia Emerson
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Physical Education
The coach has grown larger with each decadeuntil, wrestler-fat, she travels to the hockey field
in a golf cart rattled with whistles, rackets,
sticks, and cleats. From behind the wheel, she metes out
laps like lashes, and terrified, they circle
the school the way water, not yet furious,
trains around an impatient drain: run –
run – you girls, you stupid, stupid girls.
Physical Education
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