years through you's

when i was five
your name was joy
we danced in leaves
impossible
green
you let me see you
in trees
you saw my
skinned
knees, heart
we touched, as hands do

at seven
you were amanda
estranged
dark eyes like wet
pavement in
rain
you lived with your father
taught me how to fear
my heart;
sundry items not yet
catalogued

twelve was
joanna's year
in review: argyle socks
tan skirts
wandering minds just this
side of slumber
tenuously skirting
alert
your smile melted snowflakes
my tongue was
jealous

oh seventeen
where did you go?
christy-amy-rebecca-ann marie
who in the world could forget
kelly
touch and go
in cars and loose
shirts
spending hours contemplating
the genius of
skirts
and reveling in the apathy
of parental denial

fragments fall and
flash - filaments of recollection
recognition on a half life
delay
funny how a breeze off
summer pools
conjures light
from so many lives
away

Reviews

[Dana Alsamsam]

you've cleverly interlaced all these small snippets of memories in a way that really has an impact. this piece really inspired me and i think after reading i may try to write my own pieced inspired by my childhood crushes and the concept of growing through them and adolescence. this is my favorite piece of yours that i've read so far- it's absolutely brilliant.

[Marie Anzalone]

"reveling in parental denial" may be just about the single most important phrase ever to describe the formative years of a poet. Helicopter parents do not produce poets. Neglectful ones do. How else are we supposed to pack enough life-experience into an adolescence to learn about true love and mistakes and regrets; the view form the tops of tall trees and the divinity of the arms of a budding god or goddess? The genius of skirts? or the absolute miracle of skirts? I don't think anything is ever as bittersweet as recalling early love and akward explorations. Even the most fumbling of fingers got it just perfect sometimes.

[J_Star]

I love this so much.

It's like it exists outside of time and space. It's the thoughts that line the inside of the sky when your mind is no longer in your body. It's beautiful.

[Ed Hart]

very creative, and now along with 'the soft touch of sweaters', we've got the 'genius of skirts'...genius is right!

[ChemicalMadness]

Working my way through various emotions, one garment at a time.....
Thank you,,friend.

[Horizon K.]

ohh... nice one! These little fragments of memories, tenderly spun from those golden moments of sweet crushes and early loves...your smile melted snowflakes...my tongue was jealous ... love your lines and how this poem falls across the page...culminating in that last illuminating stanza.

[ChemicalMadness]

Thank you so much!

[Richard]

I was thinking of The Beach Boys while I read this ... I also saw a line from an Osker song in there I think I really liked this :)

[ChemicalMadness]

Appreciate you stopping in....thank you.

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

All of the "might have beens" do have a way of popping up and staring you in the face at the most inexplicable of times. I've had some joe-roger-brent-brandon-donald-nate-ben-mike moments in my day...actually, it seems I do a lot of reflecting :)

This was very well written...with a master's pen, my friend. I always enjoy your work.

[ChemicalMadness]

More reflections than anything else....remembering a time, place, and reason,,,,even after they're so long past.

Thank you for the kind words, GF.

[Girl Friday (Sarah W.)]

Remembering is good...it keeps us grounded to the place that we are in the present.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

all of the have-nots lead to the haves...

but unfortunately many of those just get added to the list of experience, until maybe there is one name we can capture long enough to have her appear in more than one poem.

that's longevity in a relationship...

i don't name them by name...but several exes and ex girlfriends seem to be the focus of what i write.

all those experiences leading to the relationship i have now...where finally security is like a thesis i want to use over and over and over in my life's essays.

[ChemicalMadness]

The names are largely irrelevant....the marks they left (even at such a young age) are not...the ability to evoke emotion across several lifetimes is remarkable to me. You always leave something behind....you always take something with....not sure i quite captured that here....but I love our insights....

[ChemicalMadness]

"Your" not "our", with respect to insights...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yeah, but your poems are so full of keen insights, i think "our" fits quite nicely, thank you.

[ChemicalMadness]

Ha! You're too kind. We really ought to have a beer some day! You remind me of one of my closest friends from Vermont.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow and that is coincidental since i spent so many months of my childhood in Ryegate VT..and it is still my very favorite place in the world.