Margaret Chula

The Circle Game

I was a tall and gangly girl. In fifth grade, I hung out with the boys because they’d run around the playground kicking balls or swing on the monkey bars and we didn’t have to talk. Girls paid no attention to me. I hated their silly games. Dolls, with glassy eyes that stayed open all the time, gave me the creeps.

Marbles were my passion—moonies, plunkers, cat’s eyes, and boulders. For Christmas, Aunt Betty sewed me a marble bag embroidered with my name. Each afternoon, when I came home from school, I’d empty my marbles into the sink and wash them with Ivory Flakes.

The bag got heavier and heavier. At the end of the year, I signed up to play in the tournament. It was a muddy spring day and I had to concentrate hard on the heft and spin of each marble as I rolled it towards the hole. Mrs. Hammond, our gym teacher, judged the games. By the end of recess, I’d defeated the front-runner, Mike Edson, and became the first girl marble champion of Northfield Elementary.

green glow
of the alley cat's eyes
my seventieth spring

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About the Author

Margaret Chula has been writing haiku, haibun, and tanka for over forty years. One Leaf Detaches (haiku) was awarded a Touchstone Distinguished Book Award in 2019. Her new haibun memoir, Firefly Lanterns: Twelve Years in Kyoto, is forthcoming later this year. See more of her work at www.margaretchula.com.