For Dean
The last boy I kissed,
full on the lips, you turn
sixty this year like me.
Eighteen, we shared an
orange in a secret fairy circle
in hills covered mustard gold,
lupin blue, rode a friend's horse
on Pacific beach, licked cherry
brandy off each other's lips,
worried over colleges, parents,
different dreams, different coasts.
You let me down easy. I needed
you at home to receive my letters
so I could leave. You understood.
By nineteen, last kiss in my mother's
kitchen, you were no longer a boy,
told me you'd met someone beautiful
at the Renaissance Festival, that she
needed you in a way I didn't and you
needed that. I'd met someone too ,
wasn't honest enough yet to admit
he held my future, knew me flawed
and whole. I cried ten minutes when
you broke up with me, then we talked
hours, sweet friends, happy to be free.
I'm lucky you were the last boy I kissed.
Victoria Hendricks
November 8, 2010
What a touching and beautiful poem this is, Victoria!
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful this is. I'm swept away by the love and the desire here.
ReplyDeleteSuch romance, such poignancy. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteSo much romance...
ReplyDeleteelectronically yours
Touching and real because it uses plain language and lets the narrative breathe.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia put to good use, with the seasoning of hindsight. Enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI love the play on 'last boy kissed' rather than the first one we usually remember. Like the emoitonal levels revealed.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Tender and touching piece with wonderful revelations.
ReplyDeleteThis is so poignant and sensitive. Nicely done.
ReplyDeletehttp://liv2write2day.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/worth-dying-for-big-tent-poetry/
Such sweetness and sadness in this poem. I really liked the ambiguity I found in the statement,
ReplyDelete"wasn't honest enough yet to admit
he held my future, knew me flawed
and whole."
It leaves me wondering, which he? I also like the idea that forty-two years later, the narrator has remembered so many details, but remembers crying for only ten minutes.
Fine poem!
The repetition of needing keeps the narrative beating, reminds me of my own last boy kiss. Thank you for that!
ReplyDeleteSo touching and beautifully done!
ReplyDeletewonderful movement - like a long breathe. took me back to earlier times...
ReplyDeleteVery impressive, Victoria. Such a poignant poem!
ReplyDelete