University of Nebraska

RUNNING TO; RUNNING FROM

Running ______   _________ a challenge _________
_________ snot drips ______ breath shortens ____  ____
Toenails dig ______ into ______ puffed skin ______  
grip _________ _________ the phone tighter, a reminder
Blood pumps _________ _________into my cheeks, 
_________my body _________ energizing itself _________
I choose to move _________each _________leg _________forward
delicious limitlessness, achieved ______   _________  ____.

Destination ahead, continued _________ _________
These gravel roads _________ _________take me home
_________  _________ resisting the slow-down inside.
_________ in this _________  ______  _________
______ pushing _________, past _________ old times
because I cannot ______ finish ______ that to-do list now.
_________ the ache of unresponse _________  _________

Running ______ ______ an achievement ______
The simplicity _________ _________ _________is the lure
Knowing _________ when I stop ______ the burn 
_________ in my chest ______ stops, too _________
Unlike _________ the stride of  _________ a long day,
The unanswered texts _________ _________
the emails I never wrote _________ _________
the friend waiting for my call _________ _________
No matter what_________ I do _________there is always more 
faster _______  _________ the time, _________
quicker to outrun _____  _________  ____  _________

        the demons inside.

Kelsey Walker is a secondary literacy coach in rural Wyoming. She has an M.Ed in curriculum and instruction and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Nebraska.

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Textures by Jared Carter

TEXTURES

At times the fabric shows itself,
as though up close—
A linen swatch, scraps from a shelf
of silk, or those

Long scarves made of the lightest wool,
that with a touch
Can wrap around, yet never pull
or press. For such

Affinity invokes, like wings
against the air,
What elevates but does not cling
to what is there.