SCHOOLBOYS WILL.

THREE SCHOOLBOYS AND THE GIRLS.

 

Who’s she? Connolly asks,

Taking note of a girl passing.

She’s new on the block, says

O’Brien, watching the girl pass,

 

Her hair in plaits, tied with black

Ribbons. She has a mouth on her,

Sutcliffe says; don’t be fooled

By her feminine ways. What’s

 

Her father do? Connolly asks,

Studying the white ankle socks,

The brown scuffed shoes. Stands

With his hands in his pockets in

 

The queue like the rest of them,

Waiting for work, O’Brien informs.

Connolly studies the girl as she

Begins skipping with two other

 

Girls in the playground, watches

The way she jumps when the rope

Comes. They stand beside the bike

Shed peering at the girls, smoking,

 

The smoke rises in small puffs.

What’s her name? Connolly asks.

Jennie Richie, Sutcliffe says, she’s

Nice thighs, don’t you think. O’Brien

 

Inhales the smoke, the two others

Girls swing the rope for the Richie

Girl, their hands moving, their eyes

Fixed on Richie’s feet. They’re all

 

The same, Connolly says, so my

Daddy says, you see one pair of

Thighs you’ve seen them all.

Richie’s legs are hit by the rope

 

And she changes place with the

Thin girl with the rat's tail hair.

The boys stand silent, the smoke

Rises, the thin girl skips and jumps,

 

Her navy-blue panties show briefly

In the warm May air as the boys stare.