KAY CORNS
Boy
has got a club foot.
He has to wear a special boot
that doesn’t cover his toes.
He doesn’t like the boot
so he wears a sock
and when it gets a hole in it
he puts another one over
the holey one.
Sometimes he is wearing
ten socks at once.
His club foot looks heavy
but he never says that it is,
or that his fat leg
makes him walk sideways.
He can’t climb up the ladder
at the pool very well,
but he can walk along the bottom
of the pool on his hands.
His club foot and fat leg
don’t matter because
his hands are flat like feet.
We sit together
at the back of the class,
he can’t fit his leg under the desk
so it sticks out the side.
He doesn’t play bullrush,
softball or rugby.
He never joins in on sports day.
But he can sing with the loudest voice.
He puffs out his chest
like the rooster
his Nanny keeps with
her chickens behind the garage.