On my walk I approach a group of kids who are waiting for the school bus. Suddenly I am back in middle school, bracing for judgment. The boys toss a football and laugh, while the girls huddle together around phone screens whispering. Alongside the perfumed pack of blonde perfection stands a boy, alone, wearing a navy ship-captain’s hat. His white sneakers are not cool and he is muttering to himself, acting out some sort of karate-type fight scene, as unaware of them as they are of him. I realize that perhaps the key to survival means thriving in the fringes.
Amy Allen's poetry chapbook, Mountain Offerings, was released in 2024. She lives in Vermont, owns an editing business, and serves as her town’s poet laureate.