Heartbeat

After Annie learns about footnotes in school, she begins utilizing them in the poems themselves. This introduces a playful, dynamic element to the verses, and draws attention to the fact that Annie is the one writing the text. It also characterizes Annie as an intellectually curious and creative person. When she dreams of footnotes attached to everything she sees on her runs, the notes are all on the bottom of her feet: “and somehow it pleased me / that the notes were there / imprinted on my feet—” (64). The concept of footnotes resonates with Annie, not only as a play on words and writing tool, but as a way of viewing her relationship with running. Footnotes provide clarifying information, and Annie’s runs are an important emotional and mental outlet for her.

In the poem “The Skeleton,” Annie’s family reacts to the ultrasound image of the baby. Annie is “horrified” (66), as the image appears nothing like a human being, but like a skeleton instead. However, when she goes with her parents to hear the baby’s heartbeat, she has a dramatic shift in her feelings towards the baby. The heart “beating beating beating” (76), as if the child is in unstoppable motion, compels Annie to think of her whole family as a team. Her word choice of “team” recalls her conversation with Max where she dismisses the idea of joining the girls’ track team. It also foreshadows the following poem, in which the track coach asks Annie to join the team. Frustrated by the fact that the coach cannot seem to take no for an answer, Annie thinks about how in track, “No one gets to run her heart out / no one runs barefoot / no one smiles” (79). In her criticism of competitive racing, she expresses what she does love about running. To Annie, racing on a team negates the fundamental joy.