In kindergarten we wore leather fisherman sandals with working buckles. We buckled our shoes. In first grade we wore canvas sneakers with laces, and despite my best attempts, I was the only girl in my class who couldn’t tie her shoes.

Yet the exploits of John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, modern-day argonauts, were about to give my game of hopscotch an enormous boost.

My younger brother was born the year after the Apollo 11 moon landing. My parents wanted to name him Glenn, but in the 1960s, names like Glenn and Neil did not appear on the French formulary of approved prénoms. Populated by Catholic saints and French heroes, this list favored names like Philippe, Pascal, Thierry, Didier, and even Quentin. Once my mom was released from La Maternité, newborn in tow, my parents met with a Marseille city clerk to request approval for his name.

When my teacher asked me about the new baby at home, I said his name was Glenn. “Like the astronaut!” my teacher exclaimed. I smiled, but whether she knew it or not, my teacher had just given my feet superpowers.

My two small feet, the only pair of American feet at my school. My brother, named for an American astronaut.

Two shoes 

tied—or not—
can’t power me to the moon 

and back, but pride 
powers me across the playground 
in giant leaps. 

*The bracketed “a” is explained in “One small step” at Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_small_step

—Short-listed Finalist in MacQ’s Cheribun Challenge #4

Tammy Iralu

lives in New Mexico with her husband and daughter. Her work is published or forthcoming in Amethyst Review, Cowley Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, Friends Journal, The Journal of Radical Wonder, Mukoli: The Magazine for Peace, Odd Pocket Press, The Other Side, and the anthology A Year of New Mexico Poetry (Casa Urraca Press, Fall 2026). She is grateful for the support of Millay Arts and the San Juan National Forest Artist-in-Residence Program: Aspen Guard Station in Mancos, Colorado.

Find her work online at https://tammyiralu.substack.com and
terimuso: Poetry by Tammy Iralu: https://terimuso.com/