“What Am I Doing” by Charlie Gerson

Charlie Gerson (age 9)

WHAT I AM DOING?

If I am walking, but talking

but what if I am playing, but swimming

I may be jumping or diving or flying,

afraid of dying or dancing or braiding

or I may be dribbling a ball

or eating my dinner or acting a play

or thinking on flying or jogging or painting a flower

and then drawing it after or running

but to be jumping again

but right now I am good to be walking again

in my mind

—from 2015 Rattle Young Poets Anthology

__________

Why do you like to write poetry?

Charlie Gerson: “Because it’s fun and you don’t have to write a specific thing. It makes me use my imagination.”