A Fellow Runner Would Know

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One of my classes this semester is Creative Writing, and it kind of makes me feel like I am back in elementary and middle school! It's not as easy as I thought from the start, but I am enjoying it. When I was younger, I would whip out poems, stories, plays, and basically anything at any time whether for an assignment but more often for fun. Now it is harder for me (as for all kids since the school system has changed so much...that's for another discussion...) to make up things rather than base it off of real-world knowledge. We all need this, though. Over the semester I hope to be able to share some of my writing! I've already tweeted a couple haikus at Alexi Pappas, based on her "bravey" trend. Writing poems again has been more fun than I imagined.

This one is the ballad for my folder in class. Ballads have a specific rhyme scheme abcb stanzas, alternating between iambic tetrameter (4 stressed syllables) and iambic trimeter (3 stressed syllables). It also must tell a story with characters and setting. This made it a little tricky, but it's a fun challenge! For some reason, the first story that came to me was someone in the park, so I ran with it (no pun intended), and kept going on to make it funny--something personal and relateable to my running friends and community.

A Fellow Runner Would Know

I have this pain inside my gut.

A twist, a turn it does.

My thoughts, they run; my heart does race.

I start to get a buzz.

The trail keeps going on ahead;                                         

I’ve gone so far this way.

I could turn back, but it’s still long.

“I have to stop!” I say.

No one hears me except the trees.

It’s miserable to wait.

I look around and find a spot.

I step behind the gate.

Bladder empty, ready to go,

I feel much better now.

I turn around and hear a sound—

I was seen by a cow.