Paul chased a boy with dreadlocks.
This was a hundred meter dash at a track meet.
He never caught the boy with dreadlocks.
He finished at ten point two-one seconds.
Paul had never lost before.
He ran like his hundred meter house was on fire.
Paul asked the boy with dreadlocks
how he ran so fast.
The boy pointed to the finish line.
He imagined it to be the event horizon of a black hole.
It drew him onward, at faster and faster speeds
until his body was warped and miles long.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
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