Poetry in Motion
Atlanta
First Grade
William Stafford
In the play Amy didn't want to be
anybody; so she managed the curtain.
Sharon wanted to be Amy. But Sam
wouldn't let anybody be anybody else
he said it was wrong. "All right," Steve said,
"I'll be me but I don't like it."
So Amy was Amy, and we didn't have the play.
And Sharon cried.
"First Grade" from The Darkness Around Us Is Deep. Copyright © 1993 by the Estate of William Stafford. Reprinted by arrangement with HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.