Alone in the Schoolyard at Dusk

Abstract

Alone in the Schoolyard at Dusk Dorianne Laux (bio) I socked the tetherballand watched it travel highon its rope around the pole,the hollow metal pinging,the rope twisting tighterand tighter, the balltraveling fasteras the rope shortened,finally bouncing offthe pole and backin the opposite directionfor a while, the ropeslithering down the pole,loosening its grip,unraveling, letting go.Then I lifted it upwith my five curvedfingers and balancedit there like a smoothmoon, then I socked itout of my own handand each time it arcedand swung closesocked it again like a faceI hated, but featureless,a few scores downits sallow cheeks, nothingremarkable, nothing [End Page 99] that could identify itin a lineup, thoughmy fingerprintswere all over it, somesmudged, but surelyat least one that wasperfect, liftable,traceable, that could beused against me in a courtof law, that could provethat the violence inside mewas there all along, hiddeninside my closed fists. [End Page 100] Dorianne Laux Dorianne Laux’s most recent collections are The Book of Men and Facts about the Moon. A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Oregon Book Award judged by Ai, Laux is also author of Awake, What We Carry, and Smoke from BOA Editions. She teaches poetry in the mfa program at North Carolina State University and is founding faculty at Pacific University’s Low Residency mfa Program. Copyright © 2015 University of Nebraska Press