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Poems

March 1996

The 440

by Donald Hall

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Because I was always

busy writing when we were home, my

son and I did our best

talking in the car. When he was six

we drove from Thaxted

to Cambridge to do the laundry, and I

told him about

running the 440 at Exeter, how

I raced in a JV meet

against a runner named Bill Best

from Dover High School

whom I determined to beat. I sprinted

for the pole and was timed

at the 220 m ...

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Donald Hall was named Poet Laureate of the United States in 2006
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This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 14 March 1996, on page 28
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