The Boy with a Thorn in His Joints

When my twin sons, Shepherd and Beau,

took soccer lessons for the first time.

They were so excited

They slept in their uniforms "

a purple T-shirt with a yellow star kicking the ball with one of its points "

the night before their first practice.

 

But when we got to the field the next day,

Shepherd’s enthusiasm evaporated.

While Beau and the other kids ran zigzags around,

Shepherd stood still and looked bewildered.

When it was his turn to kick the ball, he seemed lost.

 

He walked off the field and sat down in my lap,

saying he was too tired to play.

We watched the other kids,

and I pointed out to him the drills I thought he might enjoy,

But he refused to go back to the field.

 

His passivity didn’t concern me much "

I already thought of him, as a little clingy and not especially athletic.

My husband and I had recently noticed

He occasionally walked with a limp,

but it was faint enough that sometimes

when you looked for it,

it was gone.

 

Faint enough "

though it seems incredible now "

that we didn’t connect it to his reluctance on the field.

I assumed that Shepherd would warm to his soccer lessons the next time around.

He and Beau still donned their jerseys at bedtime

talked each night about “soccer school” at the dinner table.

Author's Note

Another poem from a prose. We have to change the meaning, hope. The title is the same as the news article I got from NY Times.

Reviews

[TLK]

This is fascinatingly different to the original article (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/magazine/the-boy-with-a-thorn-in-his-joints.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).

You have managed to make a prose poem out of what I assume is your own editing of the source, and given it your own spin.

[Kate Ruta]

Yeah I assignment was to take a prose and make it different from the prose. Thanks.