Primer

In the sixth grade I was chased home by

the Gatlin kids, three skinny sisters

in rolled-down bobby socks. Hissing

Brainiac! and Mrs. Stringbean!, they trod my heel.

I knew my body was no big deal

but never thought to retort: who's

calling who skinny? (Besides, I knew

they'd beat me up.) I survived

their shoves across the schoolyard

because my five-foot-zero mother drove up

in her Caddie to shake them down to size.

Nothing could get me into that car.

I took the long way home, swore

I'd show them all: I would grow up.

Source: Mother Love (W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1995)