John Lawless Poet Free verse

We Went To Different Schools Together

We went to different schools… together
walked on opposite sides of a street
that constituted an invisible border.
There were differences…..but not really.
We walked slowly, as if to spend time together,
assessing the others clothing, shoes, gait.
Eye contact was forbidden
as we had been warned…..about them
as they….about us.
Smiles were fleeting sorties into danger.
We found, as children do,
ways to challenge the guardians
a quickened pace….leading to
a foot race….a breaking from the norm,
a joyously shared connection
of shouts and flashing glances.
I am not sure who won the “race”,
I think we all did…us kids….truants
in the school of ancestral fears,
breaking the barrier of a paved border
streaking toward the finish line
stretched between two churches.


John G. Lawless
©9/12/2019

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Gershon Wolf October 13, 2022 at 6:49 PM Wonderful, John! I actually lived something like this with another fellow. We each lived on a different side of the boundary line between schools... in addition to which we were the same age, had the same hair color, and looked very, very much alike. His name was Mike Katz. Always wondered what became of him. Time to consult Professor Google...

Andrea Dietrich October 11, 2022 at 3:15 PM wow, this is GREAT, John. I was thinking at first that it was about Catholic schools and how girls were separated from boys, and it could have been a number of other things. Love it

Ilene Bauer October 11, 2022 at 1:23 PM this is wonderful, john! it's great how kids seem to understand, on some powerful inner level, that so many differences they've been warned about matter not in the slightest...