WAYS OF WALKING

 The teenage boy rolls and bounces,

Subconsciously self-conscious,

Using up some of his enormous burden of

Excess energy exhibitionistically.

He really believes that

Everyone Is Watching Him.

 

Some people stroll

As though there were no such thing

As time (if, indeed, there is).

 

Ambling is strolling, while

Aware of its full use of time.

 

Sauntering is strolling, too,

But with style. That young lady

Does it well.

 

Me, I stride, and in several ways.

 

On the level stretches, I walk

“With a book on my head.”

One friend has called it

“A killer’s walk.”

I explained that I learned it from

Bill Cosby walking cat-like in “I Spy.”

But that’s not quite so.

 

I sometimes explain my fluid stride

By saying, “I once took acting lessons.”

People respond, “Ah, I see,”

As if they did.

 

Truth is, I learned my level-headed stride

The hard way

As a Boy Scout climbing a mountain

With a 50-pound backpack.

 

It may have turned out to appear suave, but

Its real function is energy conservation;

          A bouncing,

       Jolting backpack

    Climbs each mountain

 Twice.

 

Leg extension is important.

I sometimes find myself using shorter steps

Uphill,

Then think to l e n g t h e n  my stride.

It feels better and maybe it

Looks better, too.

 

Oh, yeh. I’m sometimes as self-conscious

Of my way of walking

As that teenager is all the time.