I run
I run fast
I run and I don’t stop
I don’t run against the clock
I don’t run for distance
I don’t run for health or medals
I run from ghosts
Ghosts of my great great parents
Who couldn’t run
From ghosts of uncles
Who could not yet run
From ghosts of great uncles
Who didn’t run
Fast or far enough
I run along
With my parents and grandparents
I dare not run slower
For fear that I
Will let them catch up
That I will fail
My children and grandchildren
By not surviving as my grandparents have
That’s why I run
And when I stop
I fight
Shoulder to shoulder
With every brother and cousin
Whose grandparents
Ran fast enough
For all of us
Today survive
not-rushin 